Intention Tremor

Intention tremor, tremor that is completely or almost completely absent at rest and markedly increases during movement: when touching the tip of the nose with a finger, when bringing a glass of water to the mouth, etc. The tremor has a jerking character, very large amplitude, medium speed (5-7 oscillations per second), mainly affects the proximal parts of the limbs, relatively spares the distal muscles, and in the upper extremities is as a rule much more pronounced than in the lower ones. I. t. is especially characteristic of multiple sclerosis, being a classic symptom of this disease, but it also occurs in other diseases affecting the cerebellum or its systems. The basis of I. t. lies in disharmony in the activity of agonists and antagonists during voluntary movements. In normal conditions, the contraction of agonists should correspond to the relaxation of antagonists (the law of reciprocal innervation), but with lesions of the cerebellum and its systems, both moments become dissociated (Babinski).