9. What is a negative Romberg test? Does this change your answer to the previous question?
1) A negative Romberg test would consist of either the patient falling when their eyes were open, or if the patient sways but does not fall while their eyes are closed. I do not believe this changes the answer to the previous question because a negative test suggests that the ataxia is cerebellar in nature whereas Dani mentioned previously that a positive would indicate problems with either proprioception, vestibular function, or vision. (Betsy)
Agreed. The inability to perform the Romberg test further promotes our previous thinking. (Amber)
I agree with Betsy as well, if the patient did have an ataxia that was cerebellar it could help rule in that the cause is a neurological pathology. From the previous question (question 6) this may explain the balance issues as related to MS. The link below explains that MS is a cause of cerebellar ataxia because the myelin is destroyed in peripheral nerves that normally send signals from the cerebellum. (Laura)
http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/ataxia/DS00910/DSECTION=causes
I disagree. If I'm thinking about this right, a negative Romberg test indicates they did fine in the test. A positive test would be if the patient is unable to keep their balance. So we would suspect that Joe would have a positive Romberg test if he has had so many falls and trouble keeping his balance. I think this should make us look at other possibilities. (Chelsea)
What I am finding is that a positive Romberg test would involve the individual swaying or losing their balance while having the test performed. A positive test indicates peripheral ataxia, and a negative test would lean the diagnostician toward cerebellar ataxia. However, the test is more specific for peripheral neuropathy, therefore, a negative test should not be used as one’s sole indicator of cerebellar involvement. But because the test was negative, I think this reinforces previous thoughts of Joe’s diagnosis of possibly being MS. (Mandy)
I agree with Chelsea and Mandy. A positive Romberg Test is a neurological test to detect poor balance. It is used to determine if proprioceptive impulses are being transmitted up the spinal cord to the brain properly. A negative test would indicate that the patient is normal positive indicating poor balance or falls. (Colby)
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