Essential Tremor At Rest

Essential Tremor is one of the most common tremor disorders. Tremors caused by essential tremor are characterized by kinetic and postural tremors, while other tremors like those caused by Parkinson's are tremors at rest. Kinetic tremors are tremors that cause rhythmic shaking. It occurs when the muscles are being moved in parts of the body, like arms and hands. Postural tremors are found when an individual maintains a posture or position like stretching out an arm or a leg. 

Resting tremors are a bit different, and are characterized when the tremor occurs when the muscle is not being voluntarily moved and is at rest. Normally, once the limb is moved, the tremor will disappear or at least weaken a bit. Like Kinetic or Postural tremors, they will get worse if the individual is highly anxious or stressed out. Rest tremor can be separated from most other tremors though, and it is most often found in Parkinson’s disease. 

Essential tremor is considered one of the most common neurological movement disorder, and occurs up to 20 times more than Parkinson’s disease does. Areas that are affected by essential tremor generally differ from those affected from essential tremor. Essential tremor generally affects the voice, head, tongue, legs, and trunk areas. These tremors can also occur in isolation or with the hands or arms. Tremors usually go away during sleeping hours, because they are triggered by movement and not stillness like Parkinson’s tremors are. The timing of the tremors between resting and kinetic is different, with kinetic tremors having about 1-2 seconds of latency with resting tremors having latency as long as 9 seconds. 

Essential tremor is a progressive disease, and depending on the age of onset it may progress more slowly or quickly depending case by case. The symptoms of essential tremor may also stay the same depending on the case. But, after the disease gets worse and progresses, symptoms of essential tremor may worsen and change, and kinetic/ postural tremors may become to be accompanied by resting tremors, that happen regardless of if the individual is moving or not. 

The prevalence of essential tremor may differ because of things such as family history, varying environmental factors, and other conditions that the individual is suffering from. It appears that those with higher levels of tremors may also lead to mild gait difficulty, and those with severe tremors may have increased hearing disability compared with those with Parkinson’s.

Though tremors may be very different in frequency, cause and type, someone with Essential tremor may experience varying levels of severity and types of tremors. These can depend on family genetic factors as well as environmental factors and age. Though the cause is still greatly unknown, many different treatments have been found to help lessen the symptoms and provide comfort to an individual who may be suffering with symptoms while in motion and at rest. Natural remedies, exercise, diet, and medications can all make a great deal of difference in the lives of those suffering with essential tremor.