Spastic Paresis: A Treatable Movement Disorder

Movement Disorders Movement Disorders VIEWPOINT Open Access Spastic Paresis: A Treatable Movement Disorder Jean-Michel Gracies MD, PhD, Katharine E. Alter MD, Bo Biering-Sørensen MD, Julius P.A. Dewald PhD, Dirk Dressler MD, PhD, Alberto Esquenazi MD, Jorge Hernandez Franco MD … See all authors First published: 16 November 2024 https://doi.org/10.1002/mds.30038 [Correction added on 29 November 2024, after first online publication: Michele Vecchio's affiliation has been updated.] Relevant conflicts of interest: The authors have no relevant conflict of interest with respect to the contents of this manuscript. Funding agency: This work was not funded. SectionsPDFTools Share If a movement disorder is a neurological condition that causes “excess movement or a paucity of voluntary and involuntary movements,” we propose that spastic paresis represents an archetypical movement disorder and should be considered within this sphere.1 This relates not only to the sign of spasticity, which is defined as the enhancement of velocity-dependent stretch reflexes, measured at rest.2, 3 Spasticity is but the symptomatic hallmark of the syndrome of spastic paresis following lesions that involve pyramidal pathways. Spastic paresis comprises hypokinetic and hyperkinetic movement abnormalities from both muscular and neural causes, which constitute the spastic movement disorder (SMD).1