Dyskinesia Expert Video Transctipt

My name is Bhooma Aravamuthan. I am a pediatric neurologist and movement disorder specialist, and I work at Washington University in St. Louis in Missouri. Dyskinesia is an umbrella term encompassing a range of different movements. These are all movements that can be out of your control. Dyskinesia is very common in cerebral palsy. There are three general groups that fall under dyskinesia, and that's dystonia, chorea, and athetosis. Dystonia is voluntary movement triggered overflow muscle activation. So, that means whenever you try to make a movement, parts of your body that you don't intend to move move out of your control. Chorea is a different type of dyskinesia, distinct from dystonia. That is the inability to maintain a certain position. Athetosis is different from chorea and different from dystonia. It tends to be slow, writhing movements. So not as small and fidgety looking as chorea.

The treatment for these different types of dyskinesia can differ. It's important to talk to your medical provider about the different types of movement patterns you might have, including dyskinesia. And last is that even if dyskinesias are not the predominant type of movement pattern that you have, it may still be the movement pattern that causes at least some functional limitation for you. So, talking to your medical provider about those potential treatments and having them assess you for dyskinesia can ultimately be a big help to your function even if dyskinesia, as a movement pattern, isn't the most predominant movement pattern you have.