Mirror movements, where both sides of the body move involuntarily when initiating a voluntary movement, can be caused by neurological disorders, genetic variations or occur in infants and children up to 10 years old. It can interfere with tasks requiring independent limb movement.
Mirror movements are seen in people with neurological disorders that cause them to move both sides of the body involuntarily when they initiate a voluntary movement of one side of the body. In a simple example, a person might reach for a doorknob with their right hand, and their left arm and hand would involuntarily make the same grasping and grabbing motion. Mirror movement disorder, also called mirror dystonia, is relatively unusual and can become detrimental to the patient, as it interferes with the ability to perform tasks in which the arms and legs must work independently of each other.
Infants and children up to about 10 years of age show some mirror movements. Pathways in the brain continue to develop throughout childhood, and when people are first born, they lack the fine-tuning that allows them to move their limbs independently. Therefore, babies do things like kick with both legs when they intend to kick with one, or move one arm involuntarily as they initiate an intentional movement with the other arm. In a very small percentage of people, these mirror movements persist into adulthood.
Some individuals develop mirror movements as a complication of neurological disorders such as Parkinson’s disease. As connections in the brain are disrupted by the degenerative disease, the patient loses some motor control and develops involuntary movements including tics, tremors and mirror movements. If someone suddenly develops this neurological problem, it can be a sign that something in the brain is going wrong.
In a very small percentage of the population, this condition is caused by a genetic variation. Research in the early 2000s identified two families, one in Iran and the other in Canada, with an inherited mirror movement disorder. Members of both families experience errors during brain development that leave some neurons in the wrong hemisphere. Consequently, when one hemisphere initiates a movement, the neurons along the stroke also respond, causing the limb on the opposite side of the body to move as well.
People with mirror movements may have difficulty with tasks such as typing, knitting, and other activities where the hands must move independently. While mirroring is usually not accurate, it is disruptive enough that it is difficult to control the other hand. Adaptive technology can be used to assist people in completing tasks that might otherwise be challenging. Some patients also experience benefits from physical therapy and medications designed to address tics and tremors.
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