Rinsho Shinkeigaku (Clinical Neurology)

Brief Clinical Note

A case of position dependent tremor

Manabu Inoue, M.D., Ph.D.1)* , Hirokazu Morihata, M.D., Ph.D.2), Shun Matoba, M.D.2) and Hiroshi Shibasaki, M.D., Ph.D.3)

–Corresponding author: Department of Neurology, Osaka Saiseikai Nakatsu Hospital [2-10-39 Shibata, Kita-ku, Osaka 530-0012, Japan]
1) Department of Neurology, Osaka Saiseikai Nakatsu Hospital
2) Department of Neurology, Osaka City General Hospital
3) Emeritus Professor, Kyoto University Graduate School of Medicine

A 79-year-old woman presented 3 years' history of hand shaking while drinking a cup of tea. The tremor was seen bilaterally, more predominantly on the left, and it also appeared when reading a book or writing. It was also induced by flexing the elbow to about 90 degrees or more without any specific task. Although there was no family history, the tremor in the present case was clinically diagnosed as essential tremor, because there were no other movement abnormalities, and other causes of tremor were excluded by laboratory tests. The tremor was dependent on the position of the involved extremity regardless of the kind of tasks. Position-specific tremor is discussed in relation to postural tremor.
Supplemental video
Video legend
Gross tremor seen in the left upper extremity while the patient is trying to drink a cup of water, to read, to wright or to brush teeth. Tremor also appears when the patient is requested to just flex the left elbow to about 90 degrees.
Consent statement: The patient gave written informed consent.
¦The authors declare there is no conflict of interest relevant to this article.
Full Text of this Article in Japanese PDF (749K)

(CLINICA NEUROL, 61: 762|764, 2021)
key words: position dependent tremor, position-specific tremor, task-specific tremor, postural tremor

(Received: 16-May-21)