Syndrome of spastic paresis

An acute central nervous system lesion is followed by a phase of ,,shock" w ith flaccid muscle tone, After some weeks the syndrome of spastic paresis d evelops which is characterized by increased muscle tone and exaggerated ten don tap reflexes. During the last years it could be shown that the characte ristic spastic movement disorder is mainly due to secondary changes of musc le properties which require a specific treatment. Exaggerated reflexes do o nly little contribute to the movement disorder.