Definition

Noun: * A neurological disorder, specifically a late-stage complication of untreated syphilis, characterized by damage to the sensory pathways of the spinal cord. This damage results in a loss of coordination, particularly in the legs and gait, without significant muscle weakness.

Usage

• Medical Diagnosis/Description: The term is used in medical contexts to describe a specific clinical condition.
  • The patient's unsteady walk and loss of positional sense were classic signs of locomotor ataxia.
  • Before effective antibiotics, locomotor ataxia was a feared consequence of syphilis.

Advanced Usage

• The condition is also known medically as tabes dorsalis, which is the more precise clinical term.
  • The neurologist noted that the symptoms were consistent with tabes dorsalis, also called locomotor ataxia.

Variants and Related Words

• Ataxia (n.): The broader medical term for a lack of muscle control or coordination of voluntary movements, which can have many causes.
  • Cerebellar damage often results in ataxia.
• Tabes dorsalis (n.): The formal medical synonym for locomotor ataxia.

Synonyms

• Tabes dorsalis

Noun

1. syphilis of the spinal cord characterized by degeneration of sensory neurons and stabbing pains in the trunk and legs and unsteady gait and incontinence and impotence