Symptoms

Symptoms of Essential Tremor

Essential tremor is most often seen in the hands, however it can affect almost any part of the body.

• Tremor may present in the hands, legs, head or voice.
• Tremor may prevent someone from writing, eating with a spoon or fork or drinking from a cup without a straw.

Essential tremor is identified as a rhythmic shaking of a body part when:

• Holding the body part in a fixed position (postural tremor)
• Trying to use the affected body part (kinetic or action tremor)

With physiologic tremor, intensity of the tremor increases with stress and fine motor activities, especially in the hands.

Patients with task– and position–specific tremor only experience shaking when performing a specific task, such as writing. Using the same limb for another task will not cause symptoms.