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Research FAQ

What treatments are available?

There is currently no cure for the ataxias but there are treatments to help control some of the symptoms, such as tremor and spasticity.
Physiotherapy and occupational therapy can also be helpful to help cope with some of the symptoms.
For information on therapies currently being researched see here.

What about stem cells?

See here for more details on stem cell research.

How can I tell if research reported in the media is relevant to me?

There are various factors to consider when reading research findings to evaluate whether the new discovery is useful or not. For example, look at what stage the research is at and whether it was testing a new treatment in people with similar conditions to you or for something different. Other things to consider include: Who funded or carried out the study, e.g. has it been carried out by a company which produces the treatment being talked about? Have there been other studies in this area or is it a brand new finding? Sometimes even well-designed studies can have misleading results if they are small studies in a new area and it can take years of further research to come up with definitive conclusions.
For a fact-sheet from the National Institutes of Health on understanding medical research stories in the media visit: NIH

How can I contribute to research?

Ataxia UK sometimes helps researchers to recruit people with ataxia to take part in trials or contribute to other research. Occasionally ‘normal’ volunteers who are not affected by ataxia are also required. Details of research projects in which you may be able to take part are posted here

One of the ways in which you could potentially help is by becoming a Friend of Ataxia UK and letting us know exactly what kind of ataxia you have been diagnosed with. This enables us to build up a database of people around the country and to potentially help researchers to put together a group of people with a particular condition for future research projects. Any personal information given to Ataxia UK will be kept in strict confidence in accordance with the Data Protection Act.

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