Unusual Movement Presentation in Rhythmic Movement Disorder

Abstract

Background : Rhythmic movment disorder (RMD) is a sleep-wave transition disorder based on the International Classification of Sleep Disorders. Rhythmic movement during sleep can involve any part of the body. Usual movement in RMD are head banging, head rolling, body rocking, leg banging, and hand banging. RMD does not include tremors. We report a patient who presented predominantly with tremulous movement.

Conclusions: This patient showed rhythmic movements during drowsiness or sleep. The type of movement was bodyrocking and tremulous. There was no evidence of seizure according to the results of polysomnography. However, the age of onset was older than that usually reported for a patient with RMD. This case suggested that RMD can present with tremulous movement and, also, that the age of onset can be variable.