A 32-year-old woman tells the nurse that she has noticed "very sudden, jerky movements" mainly in her hands and arms. She says, "They seem to come and go, primarily when I am trying to do something. I haven't noticed them when I'm sleeping." What do these symptoms suggest?

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Chorea is characterized by sudden, rapid, jerky, purposeless movements that involve the limbs, trunk, or face. Chorea occurs at irregular intervals, and the movements are all accentuated by voluntary actions. A tic is an involuntary, compulsive, repetitive twitching of a muscle group (e.g. wink, grimace, head movement, shoulder shrug); due to a neurologic cause or a psychogenic cause. Athetosis is slow, twisting, writhing, continuous movement, resembling a snake or worm. Myoclonus is rapid, sudden jerk or a short series of jerks at fairly regular intervals (a hiccup is a myoclonus of the diaphragm). .

A 32-Year-Old Woman Tells the Nurse That She Has Noticed