A movement disorder is any abnormality in the control, coordination, or rhythm of movement. Disorders of movement may occur following stroke or trauma, be part of a known process such as Parkinson's Disease or hereditary tremor, or arise for unknown reasons. Examples of movement disorders include tremor, limb stiffness, immobility, and bizarre twisting movements. Any part of the body can be affected, with the most common sites involving the hands, limbs, face, neck, and voice.
Some movement disorders progress over time while others improve or remain unchanged.
Your neurologist will counsel you regarding the clinical course of your particular disorder. Since many movement disorders are believed to be related to an imbalance of certain chemicals in the brain, your neurologist may prescribe medicine designed to counteract this imbalance. A drug's effectiveness in a particular patient cannot be predicted in advance, and thus a trial and error approach to drug selection is often employed. Since the chemistry of the brain changes over time, even effective medications may need modification over months or even years. In certain cases, despite careful drug selection, no combination of medicines can be found to relieve a patient's symptoms but only at a cost of intolerable side-effects.