Apraxias

Disease class: Psychomotor disorders

Types

• Alien hand syndrome 
• apraxia, Ideomotor 
• Gait apraxia 

 

Definition

Apraxia, or dyspraxia, is the loss of ability to make accurate skilled movements. The cause is a disorder of the cerebral cortex of the brain: the patient is unable to coordinate his or her movements. Apraxia differs from clumsiness resulting from muscular weakness, loss of sensation or disease in the cerebellum. The condition is usually a consequence of disease in the brain’s parietal lobes, though frontallobe disease may cause it. A person with gait apraxia has normal power in the legs and no abnormal signs suggesting cerebellar disease, but cannot perform the normal act of walking because of malfunction in the cerebrum. 

Source: Black's Medical Dictionary (42nd ed, 2010, ISBN 978-1-4081-0419-4)