A patient who has hypotonia inevitably shows a form of ataxia. Ataxia means that movements are inco-ordinate and ill-timed, giving a deficiency of smoothness of movement. Ataxia related to hypotonia occurs partly because of the defective postural tone as a background and partially because of phenomenon of dyssynergia. Dyssynergia is the term used to describe the loss of fluency in a movement. The balance of activity is upset because of faulty synergy.
The teamwork between muscles is lost, giving a jerky appearance to the movements, which may well be split up into a series a jerky, separated entities. Both stopping and starting of movements are difficult and overshooting occurs. These symptoms may also be noted when hearing a patient speak. Speech is a very mature ability, requiring intricate control of co-ordination of the appropriate muscles. Dyssynergia and accompanying problems lead…
