2026 MCML Muscle Tone Assessment Complete Practice Test

Chorea describes involuntary, quick, irregular movements that are brief and unsustained, often appearing as random jerks that move from one body part to another. These movements are not rhythmic or repetitive like a tremor; instead, they are unpredictable and flow from area to area, giving a dance-like quality. Athetosis, by contrast, involves slower, writhing, continuous movements, especially of the hands and face, while tremor is a rhythmic, oscillatory movement and dyskinesia is a broader umbrella term for abnormal movements that can include chorea but is not defined by brief, rapid jerks. So the descriptor “brief, rapid, unsustained irregular movements” aligns best with chorea.