Neurological movement disorders

Movement disorders are among the most common neurological disorders. They encompass a wide variety of clinical pictures characterized by disorders of voluntary motor function or involuntary movements. Some of these disorders also involve other symptoms, such as cognitive symptoms.

The most common movement disorders include Parkinson's disease, tremor disorders (e.g., essential tremor) or dystonia disorders (e.g., torticollis, blepharospasm, writer's cramp), but also restless legs syndrome or other neurologically caused gait disorders (e.g., normal pressure hydrocephalus).

There are also a number of rare movement disorders such as atypical Parkinson's syndromes (multisystem atrophy, progressive supranuclear palsy, corticobasal degeneration), ataxia disorders, which primarily affect the cerebellum and thus the coordination of movements, hereditary spastic paraplegia (HSP), which leads to increasing spastic paralysis of the lower extremities, Wilson's disease, Huntington's disease, and Tourette syndrome. Finally, there are a number of autoimmune diseases that manifest as movement disorders, such as stiff person syndrome.