One may wonder how to determine whether a patient has limb ataxia in the setting of limb weakness when scoring the NIH Stroke Scale (NIHSS).
The component of the NIHSS that tests for limb ataxia asks that the patient perform finger to nose and shin to heel testing.
A patient who does not exhibit any ataxia would receive a score of 0 (zero), which is the best score.
If the patient does not exhibit any ataxia because he/she has neuromuscular weakness and therefore can't perform the tasks at all, they would also receive a score of 0 (zero) on this component of the NIHSS.
