Video Tour of Tremor and Myoclonus

Tremor is an involuntary, rhythmic, oscillatory movement of a body part. It is the most common movement disorder encountered in the human field yet there is no diagnostic standard to distinguish among common types of tremor, which can make the evaluation challenging. Tremors can be divided into resting tremors and action-related (also known as kinetic) tremors. Resting tremor is present only during rest. The most common example in humans is Parkinson’s disease secondary to degeneration of the substantia nigra. The condition has not been recognised in domestic animals. Action-related tremor occurs following initiation of voluntary movement and worsens with increasing levels of activity while it disappears with rest. Action-related tremor can be classified in veterinary patient as postural or kinetic. Myoclonic movements are sudden, brief, shock-like involuntary movements. Myoclonic muscle contractions are mostly accompanied by some movement of the affected body segment, in contrast to, for example, fasciculations or myokymia, where the twitches remain within the affected body segment and movement is not observed. In veterinary medicine, they can be classified as epileptic or non-epileptic myoclonus. This presentation will provide you with a video tour of all these different types of tremor and myoclonus seen in veterinary medicine.