Synonyms
Paratonia
Definition
Gegenhalten, from German to resist or hold against, is a form of hypertonia characterized by involuntary variable resistance during passive movement (i.e., a movement without effort). It is usually elicited by moving the patient’s forearm rapidly from a contracted to a stretched position, after instructing the patient not to resist. It is a primitive reflex, absent in adults, but can occur in association with frontal lobe disorders, generalized degenerative diseases, and catatonia. It should be distinguished from cogwheel rigidity, a sign of extrapyramidal syndromes.
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Goetz, C. G. (2007). Textbook of clinical neurology (3rd ed.). Philadelphia: Saunders.
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Salloway, S.P. (2018). Gegenhalten. In: Kreutzer, J.S., DeLuca, J., Caplan, B. (eds) Encyclopedia of Clinical Neuropsychology. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-57111-9_1896
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-57111-9_1896
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Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-57110-2
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-57111-9
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