Table of Contents
Is Hereditary spastic paraplegia a neurodegenerative disease?
Hereditary spastic paraplegia (HSP) is a group of hereditary, degenerative, neurological disorders that primarily affect the upper motor neurons.
Is Hereditary spastic paraplegia an upper motor neuron disease?
Among the motor neuron diseases, three share the clinical features of prominent upper motor neuron signs–amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), primary lateral sclerosis (PLS) and the hereditary spastic paraplegias (HSP).
What is the difference between rigidity and spasticity?
Whereas spasticity arises as a result of damage to the corticoreticulospinal (pyramidal) tracts, rigidity is caused by dysfunction of extrapyramidal pathways, most commonly the basal ganglia, but also as a result of lesions of the mesencephalon and spinal cord.
What is the difference between paraplegia and paraparesis?
Paraparesis occurs when you’re partially unable to move your legs. The condition can also refer to weakness in your hips and legs. Paraparesis is different from paraplegia, which refers to a complete inability to move your legs.
Is heat good for spasticity?
These can help keep your muscles from spasming and tightening involuntarily. Temperature therapy. Applying cold (ice, cold water, or chemical sprays) to your muscles, especially before physical therapy, may help calm spasticity. Heat, on the other hand, relaxes muscles temporarily to ease spasms.
What does leg spasticity feel like?
Spasticity may be as mild as the feeling of tightness of muscles or may be so severe as to produce painful, uncontrollable spasms of extremities, usually of the legs. Spasticity may also produce feelings of pain or tightness in and around joints, and can cause low back pain.
What is hereditary spastic paraplegia (HSP)?
This disease is grouped under: Summary Summary. Hereditary spastic paraplegia (HSP) is a group of hereditary, degenerative, neurological disorders that primarily affect the upper motor neurons. Upper motor neurons in the brain and spinal cord deliver signals to the lower motor neurons, which in turn, carry messages to the muscles.
How are complex hereditary spastic syndromes (HSPs) classified?
This classification is subjective and patients with complex HSPs are sometimes diagnosed as having cerebellar ataxia with spasticity, intellectual disability (with spasticity), or leukodystrophy. Some of the genes listed below have been described in other diseases than HSP before.
How does spastic paraplegia affect the body?
In hereditary spastic paraplegia, upper motor neurons slowly degenerate so the muscles do not receive the correct messages, causing progressive spasticity (increased muscle tone/stiffness) and weakness of the legs. This leads to difficulty walking. As degeneration continues, symptoms worsen.
What is the history of spastic paraplegia?
Those cases were described more extensively in 1888 by Maurice Lorrain, a French physician. Due to their contribution in describing the disease, it is still named Strümpell-Lorrain disease in French speaking countries. The term hereditary spastic paraplegia was coined by Anita Harding in 1983.