The Mini Neurology Series, Volume 4: Essential Tremor

Why do the hands shake—and how can essential tremor be distinguished from Parkinson’s disease?

Essential tremor is one of the most common movement disorders. It may cause shaking of the hands and arms and can also involve the head, voice, trunk, or legs. The tremor is usually most noticeable during movement—while writing, eating, drinking from a cup, shaving, applying makeup, or performing other everyday activities.

In The Mini Neurology Series, Volume 4: Essential Tremor, neurologist Britt Talley Daniel, MD provides a concise guide to understanding this often misunderstood neurological condition.

The book examines:

• The history of essential tremor
• Genetics, epidemiology, and prevalence
• Proposed mechanisms and pathophysiology
• Clinical signs and symptoms
• Different types of tremor
• Conditions that can mimic essential tremor
• Essential tremor versus Parkinson’s disease
• Medical treatment
• Neurosurgical treatment
• Practical advice for living with tremor

One of the book’s central clinical questions is how to distinguish essential tremor from Parkinson’s disease. Essential tremor is classically an action tremor, appearing when a person moves or maintains a posture, while Parkinsonian tremor is more characteristically seen at rest and is accompanied by other findings such as rigidity and bradykinesia.

The book also reviews treatment options, including medications such as propranolol and primidone, botulinum toxin, and neurosurgical approaches including focused ultrasound and thalamic procedures.

A final practical section offers suggestions for coping with tremor during everyday activities such as writing, eating, drinking, personal care, and banking.

Written in the spirit of the Mini Neurology Series, this short book is designed to give readers the essential neurological information without requiring them to work through a large medical textbook.

Understand what essential tremor is, how neurologists recognize it, how it differs from Parkinson’s disease, and what can be done to treat it.

The Mini Neurology Series, Volume 4: Essential Tremor
By Britt Talley Daniel, MD

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