Rationale
Movement disorders are classified as excessive (hyperkinetic) or reduced (bradykinetic) activity. Diagnosis depends primarily on careful observation of the clinical features.
Causal Conditions
(list not exhaustive)
- Hyperkinetic
- Tics
- Primary (sporadic and inherited)
- Tourette syndrome
- Huntington disease
- Secondary
- Infections (e.g., encephalitis, Creutzfeldt-Jakob)
- Drugs (e.g., stimulants, levodopa)
- Primary (sporadic and inherited)
- Dystonia
- Primary (sporadic and inherited)
- Dystonia plus syndromes (e.g., medication)
- Stereotypies (typically with mental retardation or autism)
- Chorea/Athetosis/Ballism
- Essential tremor
- Myoclonus
- Tics
- Bradykinetic
- Parkinson disease
- Wilson disease
- Huntington disease
- Tremor
- Resting (e.g., Parkinson, severe essential)
- Intention (e.g., cerebellar disease, multiple sclerosis)
- Postural/Action (e.g., enhanced physiologic, essential)
Key Objectives
Given a patient with a movement disorder, the candidate will diagnose the cause, severity and complications, and will initiate an appropriate management plan.
Enabling Objectives
Given a patient with a movement disorder, the candidate will
- list and interpret critical clinical findings, including
- describing the abnormal movement accurately after careful observation (at rest and in action) to differentiate between various types and causes of movement disorders;
- performing a history and physical examination to look for reversible causes (e.g., medications, Wilson disease);
- identifying key physical findings characteristic of Parkinson disease (e.g., rigidity, akinesia);
- list and interpret critical investigations including
- testing for Wilson disease, if indicated;
- imaging studies or other tests, as appropriate;
- construct an effective initial management plan, including
- initiating medications for common conditions (e.g., essential tremor);
- recognizing side effects of medication and modifying as necessary (e.g., dystonia, “on/off” phenomenon);
- determining if the patient requires specialized care for diagnosis or management (e.g., genetic testing);
- counselling about the psychosocial impact of the disorder.