What is Apraxia and How Do You Treat It?

August 23, 2024
Neurological conditions or injuries can cause many different symptoms that need to be managed, but they can also cause other disorders such as apraxia.
Our expert, Jonathan Tiu, M.D., a neurologist at Hackensack University Medical Center, explains this lesser-known condition.
What is Apraxia?
“Apraxia is a neurological disorder where someone loses the ability to perform a previously acquired motor skill,” says Dr. Tiu. For example, if you know what a screwdriver is and how to use it, with apraxia you would lose this knowledge or a component of it.
How Apraxia May Manifest
Dr. Tiu says that generally to perform a motor task, you need to do three things:
- Come up with the idea of the action.
- Figure out how to execute that action.
- Physically perform the action.
Apraxia can disrupt one or more of these stages. What stage is disrupted depends on the type of apraxia you have. Dr. Tiu says there are three general subtypes of apraxia:
- Ideational apraxia: This is the inability to identify the purpose of an object or tool. You may look at a screwdriver and have difficulty recognizing what it’s used for.
- Ideomotor apraxia: This is the inability to carry out a command from the brain on how to use a told. You might recognize a screwdriver and what it’s used for, but you cannot “tell” your hand how to rotate and turn a screw.
- Limb-kinetic apraxia: This is an inability to execute the fine motor skills needed to use a tool. The general movements could be recognizable to someone else, but they might be clumsy or ineffective
Who does apraxia affect?
Apraxia affects people with other neurological conditions or injuries including:
- Parkinson’s disease
- Dementia
- Stroke
- Traumatic brain injury
- Multiple Sclerosis
- As a temporary effect of neurosurgery called Supplementary Motor Area Syndrome (SMA Syndrome)
“Apraxia can be highly disruptive,” says Dr. Tiu. ““But it’s also difficult to identify and study because it typically coincides with other neurological symptoms.”
It’s believed that apraxia affects walking and speech, but it’s easier to definitively identify in individuals with issues using their arms and hands.
How is apraxia treated?
Treatment greatly depends on the underlying neurological condition you have, but Dr. Tiu says there are two general specialty rehabilitation strategies. They are:
- Restorative approach: This re-trains people to do tasks they once knew.
- Adaptive approach: This helps people identify the difficulty and use compensatory movements to work around it.
What is the prognosis for apraxia?
“The prognosis for apraxia varies depending on your underlying diagnosis,” says Dr. Tiu. “For those with degenerative neurological diseases, such as Parkinson’s disease and dementia, apraxia is likely to worsen. However, for those with a history of stroke or brain injury, their apraxia usually is worse in the beginning and can often improve with time and therapy. For those with SMA Syndrome due to neurosurgery, the recovery rate approaches 100 percent.”
Apraxia is considered a rare disorder, but it is difficult to identify. “It may be more common than we realize,” Dr. Tiu says. “However, it should be noted that not everyone with a neurological condition will develop apraxia.”
Next Steps & Resources:
- Meet our source: Jonathan Tiu, M.D.,neurologist at Hackensack University Medical Center and assistant professor, Department of Neurology, Hackensack Meridian School of Medicine.
- To make an appointment with a neurologist near you, call 800-822-8905 or visit our website.
- Learn more about neuroscience at Hackensack Meridian Health.
The material provided through HealthU is intended to be used as general information only and should not replace the advice of your physician. Always consult your physician for individual care.