This chapter brings together an integrated clinical approach for the patient who presents with a functional or dissociative (psychogenic) neurological disorder that is with symptoms that are inconsistent or incongruent with recognized neurological disease. We focus on the most common…
Diseases of the nervous system develop and continue despite pregnancy. The good neurologist maintains a broad perspective, balancing the needs of the woman, her fetus, and her loved ones. Insofar as this audience creates an atmosphere for performance, the clinician…
History What we now recognize as cerebral palsy has been known throughout history from ancient Egyptian, Greek, and Roman times to the present ( ). However, early writers did not always recognize the cerebral origin of the disorder. Cerebral palsy…
Neurological problems in the newborn infant can arise from innate processes such as genetic abnormalities or disorders of nervous system development or can be the result of acquired brain injury from external insults. Both innate and acquired brain injury in…
Disorders of skeletal muscle encompass a variety of illnesses that cause weakness, pain, and fatigue in any combination. They vary from the protean symptoms of muscle pain and fatigue that often defy any explanation to the muscular dystrophies, which one…
Normal muscle contraction and force production require the efficient transmission of an electrical impulse from a motor axon to the muscle fibers it innervates. The neuromuscular junction (NMJ), a specialized synapse with a complex structural and functional organization, is the…
Acknowledgments We thank Ian Worcester for preparing the manuscript and acknowledge our friend and teacher David Robertson, whose authorship of this chapter in the fifth edition we built upon. Supported by Advancing a Healthier Wisconsin Endowment, Grant 5520298, and NIH-NIDDK…
Clinical Approach to Disorders of Peripheral Nerves Peripheral nerve disorders are common neurological problems caused by dysfunction of peripheral motor, sensory, or autonomic nerves. The causes of neuropathies are disparate and their clinical presentations highly variable. The main causes of…
Disorders of Nerve Roots The spinal nerve roots serve as the transition from the peripheral nervous system to the central nervous system (CNS). Each spinal nerve is derived from anterior (ventral) and posterior (dorsal) nerve roots; the anterior roots carrying…
The bones, joints, ligaments, and meninges that support and protect the tissues of the nervous system can give rise to numerous illnesses that affect the nervous system. These disorders sometimes border on other medical disciplines unfamiliar to the neurologist and…