Pseudoathetosis is abnormal writhing movements, usually of the fingers, caused by a failure of joint position sense (proprioception)[1] and indicates disruption of the proprioceptive pathway, from nervetoparietal cortex.
Analogous to Romberg's sign, the abnormal posturing is most pronounced when the eyes are closed as visual inputs are unavailable to guide corrective movements. Paradoxically, eye closure may decrease the amount of movement as the visual cues probably trigger corrective movements which return the limb to the desired "baseline" allowing a new phase of involuntary drift before a subsequent corrective phase occurs.[citation needed]
It may be mistaken for choreoathetosis; but these abnormal movements are relatively constant irrespective of whether the eyes are open or closed, and they occur in the absence of proprioceptive loss.
^Spitz M, Costa Machado AA, Carvalho Rdo C, et al. (2006). "Pseudoathetosis: report of three patients". Mov. Disord. 21 (9): 1520–2. doi:10.1002/mds.21014. PMID16817195. S2CID43471025.
^Ghika J, Bogousslavsky J (1997). "Spinal pseudoathetosis: a rare, forgotten syndrome, with a review of old and recent descriptions". Neurology. 49 (2): 432–7. doi:10.1212/wnl.49.2.432. PMID9270573. S2CID28064301.
