This is a glossary of medical terms related to communication disorders which are psychological or medical conditions that could have the potential to affect the ways in which individuals can hear, listen, understand, speak and respond to others.
A spasm is a sudden involuntary contraction of a muscle, a group of muscles, or a hollow organ such as the bladder.
Myoclonus is a brief, involuntary, irregular twitching of a muscle or a group of muscles, different from clonus, which is rhythmic or regular. Myoclonus describes a medical sign and, generally, is not a diagnosis of a disease. These myoclonic twitches, jerks, or seizures are usually caused by sudden muscle contractions or brief lapses of contraction. The most common circumstance under which they occur is while falling asleep. Myoclonic jerks occur in healthy people and are experienced occasionally by everyone. However, when they appear with more persistence and become more widespread they can be a sign of various neurological disorders. Hiccups are a kind of myoclonic jerk specifically affecting the diaphragm. When a spasm is caused by another person it is known as a provoked spasm. Shuddering attacks in babies fall in this category.
Writer's cramp or focal hand dystonia (FHD) is an idiopathic movement disorder of adult onset, characterized by abnormal posturing and movement of the hand and/or forearm during tasks requiring skilled hand use, such as writing. Overcontraction of affected muscles, cocontraction of agonist and antagonist pairs, and activation of muscles inappropriate to a task all impair use of the affected hand.
Dystonia is a neurological hyperkinetic movement disorder syndrome in which sustained or repetitive muscle contractions result in twisting and repetitive movements or abnormal fixed postures. The movements may resemble a tremor. Dystonia is often intensified or exacerbated by physical activity, and symptoms may progress into adjacent muscles.
Hypoparathyroidism is decreased function of the parathyroid glands with underproduction of parathyroid hormone (PTH). This can lead to low levels of calcium in the blood, often causing cramping and twitching of muscles or tetany, and several other symptoms. It is a very rare disease. The condition can be inherited, but it is also encountered after thyroid or parathyroid gland surgery, and it can be caused by immune system-related damage as well as a number of rarer causes. The diagnosis is made with blood tests, and other investigations such as genetic testing depending on the results. The primary treatment of hypoparathyroidism is calcium and vitamin D supplementation. Calcium replacement or vitamin D can ameliorate the symptoms but can increase the risk of kidney stones and chronic kidney disease. However teriparatide, brand name Forteo, a biosimilar peptide to parathyroid hormone, may be given by injection.
Dyskinesia refers to a category of movement disorders that are characterized by involuntary muscle movements, including movements similar to tics or chorea and diminished voluntary movements. Dyskinesia can be anything from a slight tremor of the hands to an uncontrollable movement of the upper body or lower extremities. Discoordination can also occur internally especially with the respiratory muscles and it often goes unrecognized. Dyskinesia is a symptom of several medical disorders that are distinguished by their underlying cause.
Hyperkinesia refers to an increase in muscular activity that can result in excessive abnormal movements, excessive normal movements, or a combination of both. Hyperkinesia is a state of excessive restlessness which is featured in a large variety of disorders that affect the ability to control motor movement, such as Huntington's disease. It is the opposite of hypokinesia, which refers to decreased bodily movement, as commonly manifested in Parkinson's disease.
Focal dystonia, or focal task specific dystonia, is a neurological condition, a type of dystonia, that affects a muscle or group of muscles in a specific part of the body during specific activities, causing involuntary muscular contractions and abnormal postures. There are many different types of focal dystonia, each effecting a different region of the body. For example, in focal hand dystonia, or writer's cramp, the fingers either curl into the palm or extend outward without control. In musicians, the condition is called musician's focal dystonia, or simply, musician's dystonia. In sports, it may be involved in what is commonly referred to as the yips. The condition appears to be associated with over-training, and individualized treatment strategies may involve medications, retraining techniques, and procedures.
A fasciculation, or muscle twitch, is a spontaneous, involuntary muscle contraction and relaxation, involving fine muscle fibers. They are common, with as many as 70% of people experiencing them. They can be benign, or associated with more serious conditions. When no cause or pathology is identified, they are diagnosed as benign fasciculation syndrome.
Torsion dystonia, also known as dystonia musculorum deformans, is a disease characterized by painful muscle contractions resulting in uncontrollable distortions. This specific type of dystonia is frequently found in children, with symptoms starting around the ages of 11 or 12. It commonly begins with contractions in one general area such as an arm or a leg that continue to progress throughout the rest of the body. It takes roughly 5 years for the symptoms to completely progress to a debilitating state.
Blepharospasm is any abnormal contraction of the orbicularis oculi muscle. The condition should be distinguished from the more common, and milder, involuntary quivering of an eyelid, known as myokymia, or fasciculation. In most cases, blepharospasm symptoms last for a few days and then disappear without treatment, but in some cases the twitching is chronic and persistent, causing life-long challenges. In these cases, the symptoms are often severe enough to result in functional blindness. The person's eyelids feel like they are clamping shut and will not open without great effort. People have normal eyes, but for periods of time are effectively blind due to their inability to open their eyelids. In contrast, the reflex blepharospasm is due to any pain in and around the eye.
Spasmodic torticollis is an extremely painful chronic neurological movement disorder causing the neck to involuntarily turn to the left, right, upwards, and/or downwards. The condition is also referred to as "cervical dystonia". Both agonist and antagonist muscles contract simultaneously during dystonic movement. Causes of the disorder are predominantly idiopathic. A small number of patients develop the disorder as a result of another disorder or disease. Most patients first experience symptoms midlife. The most common treatment for spasmodic torticollis is the use of botulinum toxin type A.
Extrapyramidal symptoms (EPS) are symptoms that are archetypically associated with the extrapyramidal system of the brain's cerebral cortex. When such symptoms are caused by medications or other drugs, they are also known as extrapyramidal side effects (EPSE). The symptoms can be acute (short-term) or chronic (long-term). They include movement dysfunction such as dystonia, akathisia, parkinsonism characteristic symptoms such as rigidity, bradykinesia, tremor, and tardive dyskinesia. Extrapyramidal symptoms are a reason why subjects drop out of clinical trials of antipsychotics; of the 213 (14.6%) subjects that dropped out of one of the largest clinical trials of antipsychotics, 58 (27.2%) of those discontinuations were due to EPS.
Propantheline bromide (INN) is an antimuscarinic agent used for the treatment of excessive sweating (hyperhidrosis), cramps or spasms of the stomach, intestines (gut) or bladder, and involuntary urination (enuresis). It can also be used to control the symptoms of irritable bowel syndrome and similar conditions. This agent can also be used for patients who experience intense GI symptoms while tapering off of TCAs.
Tolosa–Hunt syndrome is a rare disorder characterized by severe and unilateral headaches with orbital pain, along with weakness and paralysis (ophthalmoplegia) of certain eye muscles.
Myokymia is an involuntary, spontaneous, localized quivering of a few muscles, or bundles within a muscle, but which are insufficient to move a joint. One type is superior oblique myokymia.
Pleurothotonus, commonly known as Pisa syndrome, is a rare neurological disorder which occurs due to prolonged exposure to antipsychotic drugs. It is characterized by dystonia, and abnormal and sustained involuntary muscle contraction. This may cause twisting or jerking movements of the body or a body part. Although Pisa syndrome develops most commonly in those undergoing long-term treatment with antipsychotics, it has been reported less frequently in patients receiving other medications, such as an acetylcholinesterase inhibitor. However, it has also been seen in those with other diseases causing neurodegeneration and in those who are not receiving any medication. The characteristic development of Pisa syndrome consists of two types of dystonia: acute dystonia and tardive dystonia. The underlying pathology of drug-induced Pisa syndrome is very complex, and development may be due to an underlying dopaminergic-cholinergic imbalance, or serotonergic/noradrenergic dysfunction.
Motor disorders are disorders of the nervous system that cause abnormal and involuntary movements. They can result from damage to the motor system.
In ophthalmology, apraxia of lid opening (ALO) is an inability to initiate voluntary opening of the eyelid following a period of eyelid closure, with normal function at other times. Manual lifting of the eyelid often resolves the problem and the lid is able to stay open.
