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- 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.