Is Clumsiness a Sign of a Health Problem?

Every­one occa­sion­al­ly drops some­thing, trips over their own feet or bumps into a piece of fur­ni­ture. These every­day moments are com­mon and usu­al­ly do not indi­cate a health problem.

How­ev­er, fre­quent, wors­en­ing or sud­den clum­si­ness may be more than a dis­trac­tion. Prob­lems with bal­ance, coor­di­na­tion or mus­cle con­trol can some­times be relat­ed to sleep, vision, med­ica­tion or a con­di­tion affect­ing the brain, nerves or muscles.

The med­ical term for impaired coor­di­na­tion is atax­ia. It may affect walk­ing, hand move­ments, speech or the abil­i­ty to judge where your body is in rela­tion to near­by objects.

Here are sev­en health con­di­tions and con­cerns that may con­tribute to clum­si­ness, along with signs that it is time to seek med­ical care.

1. Sleep deprivation

Sleep sup­ports atten­tion, reac­tion time, deci­sion-mak­ing and phys­i­cal coor­di­na­tion. When you are sleep-deprived, you may react more slow­ly, have dif­fi­cul­ty focus­ing or feel less steady on your feet. This can make it eas­i­er to drop things, stum­ble or mis­judge your surroundings.

An occa­sion­al poor night of sleep may affect how alert and coor­di­nat­ed you feel the next day. Ongo­ing sleep loss can have broad­er effects on your phys­i­cal and men­tal health. Most adults should gen­er­al­ly aim for sev­en to nine hours of sleep each night, although indi­vid­ual needs vary.

Improv­ing your bed­time rou­tine, lim­it­ing late-day caf­feine and keep­ing a con­sis­tent sleep sched­ule may help. Talk with a health­care provider if poor sleep con­tin­ues despite these changes or if you expe­ri­ence loud snor­ing, gasp­ing dur­ing sleep, per­sis­tent insom­nia or sig­nif­i­cant day­time sleepiness.

Find a sleep med­i­cine provider

2. Anx­i­ety and stress

Anx­i­ety can affect both your thoughts and your phys­i­cal respons­es. When you are anx­ious or under sig­nif­i­cant stress, you may become dis­tract­ed, tense or over­ly focused on a per­ceived threat. Phys­i­cal symp­toms can include trem­bling, dizzi­ness, rapid breath­ing and mus­cle tension.

These symp­toms may make you feel less steady or cause you to drop objects and bump into things. How­ev­er, new or sig­nif­i­cant coor­di­na­tion prob­lems should not auto­mat­i­cal­ly be attrib­uted to anx­i­ety, espe­cial­ly if they are sud­den, per­sis­tent or accom­pa­nied by weak­ness, numb­ness or changes in speech or vision.

If anx­i­ety is affect­ing your con­cen­tra­tion, move­ment or dai­ly life, a behav­ioral health pro­fes­sion­al can help you under­stand your symp­toms and devel­op strate­gies to man­age them.

Find behav­ioral and men­tal health support

3. Vision problems

Clear vision and depth per­cep­tion help you judge dis­tances, iden­ti­fy obsta­cles and move safe­ly through your sur­round­ings. When your vision changes, you may be more like­ly to miss a step, bump into fur­ni­ture, spill a drink or have dif­fi­cul­ty nav­i­gat­ing dim­ly lit areas.

Con­di­tions such as cataracts, glau­co­ma, dia­bet­ic eye dis­ease and age-relat­ed mac­u­lar degen­er­a­tion can affect dif­fer­ent parts of your vision. Some changes are grad­ual and may not be obvi­ous at first.

Sched­ule an eye exam if you notice blurred or dou­ble vision, dif­fi­cul­ty see­ing at night, loss of side vision, increased sen­si­tiv­i­ty to light or fre­quent changes in your eye­glass pre­scrip­tion. Sud­den vision loss or a sud­den change in vision requires urgent med­ical evaluation.

Find an oph­thal­mol­o­gy provider

4. Stroke

A stroke occurs when blood flow to part of the brain is blocked or when a blood ves­sel in the brain bursts. Because the brain helps con­trol move­ment and coor­di­na­tion, a stroke may cause sud­den clum­si­ness, dif­fi­cul­ty walk­ing, loss of bal­ance or weak­ness on one side of the body.

Stroke symp­toms typ­i­cal­ly begin sud­den­ly and may include:

• Numb­ness or weak­ness in the face, arm or leg, espe­cial­ly on one side
• Con­fu­sion or dif­fi­cul­ty speak­ing or under­stand­ing speech
• Trou­ble see­ing in one or both eyes
• Dif­fi­cul­ty walk­ing, dizzi­ness or loss of bal­ance or coordination
• A sud­den, severe headache with no known cause

5. Amy­otroph­ic lat­er­al sclerosis

Amy­otroph­ic lat­er­al scle­ro­sis, or ALS, is a pro­gres­sive neu­ro­log­i­cal dis­ease that dam­ages the nerve cells respon­si­ble for vol­un­tary mus­cle move­ment. It is some­times called Lou Gehrig’s disease.

Ear­ly symp­toms vary and may begin in one area of the body. A per­son may notice dif­fi­cul­ty with but­tons or writ­ing, begin drop­ping objects or trip more often because of weak­ness in a hand, arm, foot or leg. Oth­er pos­si­ble symp­toms include per­sis­tent mus­cle twitch­ing, mus­cle cramps, slurred speech or dif­fi­cul­ty swallowing.

Occa­sion­al clum­si­ness by itself is unlike­ly to mean that some­one has ALS. The con­di­tion is uncom­mon, and many more com­mon issues can cause coor­di­na­tion prob­lems. How­ev­er, pro­gres­sive weak­ness, mus­cle wast­ing or repeat­ed dif­fi­cul­ty per­form­ing famil­iar move­ments should be eval­u­at­ed by a health­care provider.

Although there is cur­rent­ly no cure, treat­ments and mul­ti­dis­ci­pli­nary care can help man­age ALS symp­toms, sup­port mobil­i­ty and address breath­ing, com­mu­ni­ca­tion and nutri­tion needs.

6. Mul­ti­ple sclerosis

Mul­ti­ple scle­ro­sis, or MS, is a dis­ease of the cen­tral ner­vous sys­tem. It occurs when the immune sys­tem dam­ages myelin, the pro­tec­tive mate­r­i­al sur­round­ing nerve fibers in the brain and spinal cord. This can inter­fere with com­mu­ni­ca­tion between the brain and the rest of the body.

Symp­toms vary wide­ly and may come and go. Coor­di­na­tion prob­lems can occur alongside:

• Blurred or dou­ble vision
• Numb­ness or tingling
• Mus­cle weak­ness or stiffness
• Prob­lems with bal­ance or walking
• Dizzi­ness
• Sig­nif­i­cant fatigue

These symp­toms can occur with many con­di­tions and do not nec­es­sar­i­ly mean that you have MS. A neu­ro­log­i­cal eval­u­a­tion may include a phys­i­cal exam, a review of your symp­toms and med­ical his­to­ry, imag­ing or oth­er testing.

There is no sin­gle cure for MS, but treat­ment can help man­age symp­toms, short­en attacks and slow dis­ease activ­i­ty.

7. Alzheimer’s dis­ease and oth­er forms of dementia

Alzheimer’s dis­ease is often asso­ci­at­ed with mem­o­ry loss, but it may also affect visu­al-spa­tial abil­i­ties, judg­ment and the abil­i­ty to com­plete famil­iar move­ments. A per­son may have trou­ble judg­ing dis­tances, locat­ing objects, nav­i­gat­ing stairs or under­stand­ing how items relate to one anoth­er in space.

This can lead to spilling drinks, bump­ing into objects or becom­ing less steady in unfa­mil­iar envi­ron­ments. Oth­er poten­tial warn­ing signs include:

• Mem­o­ry changes that dis­rupt dai­ly life
• Dif­fi­cul­ty plan­ning or solv­ing famil­iar problems
• Con­fu­sion about time or place
• Trou­ble com­plet­ing famil­iar tasks
• Fre­quent­ly los­ing items and being unable to retrace steps
• Changes in mood, per­son­al­i­ty or judgment

Occa­sion­al for­get­ful­ness or clum­si­ness does not nec­es­sar­i­ly indi­cate demen­tia. How­ev­er, changes that inter­fere with inde­pen­dence or rep­re­sent a notice­able decline from someone’s usu­al abil­i­ties should be eval­u­at­ed. An ear­ly assess­ment can iden­ti­fy oth­er treat­able caus­es and help fam­i­lies plan for appro­pri­ate care and support.

Find a neu­rol­o­gy provider

Explore neu­ropsy­cho­log­i­cal services

Oth­er pos­si­ble caus­es of clumsiness

Clum­si­ness and poor coor­di­na­tion are symp­toms rather than diag­noses. In addi­tion to the con­di­tions above, they may be asso­ci­at­ed with:

• Med­ica­tion side effects
• Alco­hol or sub­stance use
• Inner ear or bal­ance disorders
• Low blood sugar
• Migraine
• Neu­ropa­thy or reduced sen­sa­tion in the feet
• Mus­cle weak­ness or joint problems
• Head injury
• Vit­a­min deficiencies
• Con­di­tions affect­ing the cere­bel­lum, the part of the brain involved in bal­ance and coordination

Do not stop tak­ing a pre­scribed med­ica­tion because you sus­pect it is affect­ing your coor­di­na­tion. Con­tact the pre­scrib­ing provider or phar­ma­cist to dis­cuss your symp­toms and whether an adjust­ment may be appropriate.

When should you see a health­care provider about clumsiness?

Occa­sion­al clum­si­ness is usu­al­ly not con­cern­ing. Make an appoint­ment with a health­care provider if coor­di­na­tion problems:

• Are new, per­sis­tent or becom­ing more frequent
• Inter­fere with work, dri­ving or every­day activities
• Cause repeat­ed falls or injuries
• Occur with numb­ness, tin­gling, tremors or mus­cle weakness
• Are accom­pa­nied by headaches, dizzi­ness or changes in hear­ing or vision
• Begin after a head injury
• Occur after start­ing a new med­ica­tion or chang­ing a dose
• Are noticed along­side mem­o­ry, speech or per­son­al­i­ty changes

Your provider may ask when the symp­toms start­ed, whether they affect one or both sides of your body and whether any­thing makes them bet­ter or worse. They may also review your med­ica­tions, eval­u­ate your vision, strength, sen­sa­tion, reflex­es, bal­ance and walk­ing, and rec­om­mend lab­o­ra­to­ry tests or imag­ing when appropriate.

How can you reduce your risk of falls and injuries?

While the cause of coor­di­na­tion prob­lems is being eval­u­at­ed, a few prac­ti­cal steps can help you move more safely:

• Remove loose rugs, cords and clut­ter from walkways
• Improve light­ing in hall­ways, bath­rooms and stairways
• Wear sup­port­ive, prop­er­ly fit­ting shoes
• Use handrails on stairs
• Keep fre­quent­ly used items with­in easy reach
• Avoid dri­ving if you feel dizzy, unusu­al­ly drowsy or poor­ly coordinated
• Stand up grad­u­al­ly if you tend to become lightheaded
• Ask whether phys­i­cal or occu­pa­tion­al ther­a­py could improve bal­ance and safety

A phys­i­cal ther­a­pist may rec­om­mend strength­en­ing and bal­ance exer­cis­es, while an occu­pa­tion­al ther­a­pist can sug­gest changes that make dai­ly activ­i­ties and the home envi­ron­ment safer.

Coor­di­nat­ed care for bal­ance and coor­di­na­tion concerns

Because clum­si­ness can have many pos­si­ble caus­es, pri­ma­ry care is often a good place to begin when symp­toms are grad­ual and are not an emer­gency. Your provider can review your health his­to­ry and med­ica­tions, per­form an ini­tial eval­u­a­tion and con­nect you with the right spe­cial­ist when necessary.

At Duly Health and Care, pri­ma­ry care providers can coor­di­nate with neu­rol­o­gy, oph­thal­mol­o­gy, sleep med­i­cine, behav­ioral and men­tal health, phys­i­cal ther­a­py and oth­er spe­cial­ties across the Chica­go sub­urbs. This sub­ur­ban-based com­pre­hen­sive care mod­el helps con­nect eval­u­a­tion, test­ing, treat­ment and fol­low-up with­in one coor­di­nat­ed organization.

Find a pri­ma­ry care provider

Find a neu­rol­o­gy provider

Fre­quent­ly asked questions

Is being clum­sy a sign of a neu­ro­log­i­cal condition?

Not usu­al­ly. Occa­sion­al trip­ping, drop­ping objects or bump­ing into things is com­mon. Neu­ro­log­i­cal con­di­tions are more like­ly to cause symp­toms that per­sist or wors­en and may also cause weak­ness, numb­ness, tremors, vision changes, speech prob­lems or dif­fi­cul­ty walking.

Can stress make you clumsy?

Stress and anx­i­ety can affect atten­tion, mus­cle ten­sion and phys­i­cal steadi­ness. This may make every­day mis­takes more like­ly. How­ev­er, per­sis­tent or sig­nif­i­cant coor­di­na­tion changes should be eval­u­at­ed rather than assumed to be caused by stress.

Can lack of sleep affect balance?

Yes. Sleep depri­va­tion can reduce alert­ness and slow reac­tion time, mak­ing you feel less steady or coor­di­nat­ed. If poor sleep is fre­quent or accom­pa­nied by snor­ing, gasp­ing, insom­nia or exces­sive day­time sleepi­ness, talk with a health­care provider.

Why am I sud­den­ly drop­ping things?

Drop­ping objects may be caused by dis­trac­tion, fatigue, pain, weak­ness, numb­ness, tremors, vision prob­lems or med­ica­tion effects. Seek emer­gency care if it begins sud­den­ly with one-sided weak­ness, facial droop­ing, con­fu­sion, speech dif­fi­cul­ty or oth­er pos­si­ble stroke symptoms.

What kind of provider should I see for coor­di­na­tion problems?

A pri­ma­ry care provider can eval­u­ate non-emer­gency symp­toms and help deter­mine whether you need an eye exam, med­ica­tion review, lab­o­ra­to­ry test­ing, phys­i­cal ther­a­py or a neu­ro­log­i­cal eval­u­a­tion. Sud­den loss of coor­di­na­tion or bal­ance should be treat­ed as an emer­gency, espe­cial­ly when it occurs with oth­er stroke symptoms.

Care at Duly Health and Care

Most occa­sion­al clum­si­ness is not a sign of a seri­ous health con­di­tion. But when changes in bal­ance, move­ment or coor­di­na­tion are sud­den, per­sis­tent or inter­fer­ing with dai­ly life, it is impor­tant to pay attention.

Your care team can help iden­ti­fy pos­si­ble caus­es, deter­mine whether addi­tion­al test­ing is need­ed and devel­op a plan to help you move more safe­ly and con­fi­dent­ly. If symp­toms begin sud­den­ly or resem­ble a stroke, call 911 immediately.

Find a Duly provider

Explore Duly services