Cerebellar hypermetria is larger when the inertial load is artificially increased.
Hypermetria is a classical cerebellar symptom designating the overshoot observed when a patient is asked to make a very fast and accurate movement. The movement studied here was wrist flexion. Hypermetria was found to be increased by artificially increasing the inertia of the moving hand. A normal subject adapted himself to increasing inertia by increasing both his agonist activity (the launching force) and its antagonist activity (the braking force). In the same circumstances, a patient with symptoms of cerebellar system dysfunction was found to be able to increase his agonist activity but not his antagonist activity.
Manto
M
M
Department of Neurology, Hôpital Civil de Charleroi, Belgium.
Godaux
E
E
Jacquy
J
J
D000054:Acceleration; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002526:Cerebellar Diseases / Q000503:physiopathology*; D004576:Electromyography; D005260:Female; D006225:Hand / Q000503:physiopathology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009068:Movement / Q000502:physiology*