What are Movement Disorders?
In the last decades, there was a tremendous improvement in the diagnosis and treatment of diseases such as Parkinson’s Disease, Tic, Dystonia or tremor. These so-called «movement disorders» are now considered as an important subspeciality of neurology. Classically, they are divided in clinical syndromes with either an excess of movement (hyperkinetic) or a paucity of movements (hypokinetic), unrelated to a weakness. Therapies such as «deep brain stimulation» or botulinum toxin injections are nowadays standard options in hyperkinetic movement disorders. They all require a close collaboration between physicians, nurses and other health professionals. Hence, there is the need for an interprofessional and multidisciplinary forum to further improve patient care, education, and research.
The spectrum of movement disorders represented by the Swiss Movement Disorders Society includes but is not limited to:
- Parkinson’s disease
- Other parkinsonisms such as atypical Parkinson syndromes
- Dystonia
- Chorea, Huntington’s disease
- Ataxia
- Tremor and essential tremor
- Myoclonus and startle
- Tics and Tourette syndrome
- Restless legs syndrome
- Stiff person syndrome
- Gait disorders
And also other disorders of the motor system which are historically not included in the field of “Movement Disorders”:
- Spasticity
- Apraxia
Board
President: PD Dr. med. Michael Schüpbach, Bern
Vice-President: PD Dr. med. Georg Kägi, St. Gallen
Secretary: Prof. Dr. med. Carsten Möller, Zihlschlacht
Cashier: PD Dr. med. Lennart Stieglitz, Zurich
Web-Site: PD Dr. med. Florian Hatz, Basel
Past-President: Prof. Dr. med. et phil. Alain Kaelin, Lugano
Member-at-Large: PD Dr. med. Lucia Martina Abela, Zurich
Member-at-Large: PD Dr. med. David Benninger, Lausanne
Member-at-Large: Prof. Dr. med. Stephan Bohlhalter, Luzern
Member-at-Large: Deborah Brogle, St. Gallen
Member-at-Large: Prof. Dr. phil. Tim Vanbellingen, Luzern