QuestionMy son is 11 years old and I have noticed for several years he has shaky hands. What could cause this? He has been examined by a neurologist and had a brain MRI (for another reason). I asked him about this and he just said he didn't know.
AnswerHello Julie,
Thank you for the question. I apologize for the delay, but I appreciate your patience.
Pediatric tremors or not as unusual as one might think. They are almost always benign. It is particularly reassuring that he has had an MRI scan which was negative.
The presence of tremor, and I was healthy child who was growing and developing normally likely does not suggest any serious underlying pathology. It is even more reassuring that the child has seen a neurologist, who has done a neurological exam.
There is a condition referred to as the familial tremor, which, as the name suggests tends to run in families. And this condition can present itself in childhood. Another condition called and the essential tremor is not often associated with childhood, but can be. Here the cause is unknown, but there are no associated significant diseases of childhood.
In general, many tremors are often secondary to medication side effect, metabolic disorders, and musculoskeletal diseases. Of the metabolic disorders hyperthyroidism and hypoglycemia are common.
My approach to this problem would be first to determine the impact upon the patient's life to these tremors are having. We know that most of the tremors of childhood are not related to significant underlying disease, which should be reassuring in general. Also reassuring is his negative MRI scan. If the impact of this shaking is causing problems that I would pursue further evaluation.
Thank you for the question.
Dr.M.
