An intention, rubral, cerebellar, or course tremor is defined as a rhythmic, oscillatory, and high amplitude tremor during a directed and purposeful motor movement, worsening before reaching the target. It is due to cerebellar dysfunction. It can affect precision in coordinated movements of speech muscles and limbs. The cerebellum, along with its sensory-motor white matter tracts, is responsible for motor coordination, posture and balance. The feedback mechanisms between the cerebellum, the cortex, and the brainstem become impaired, leading to kinetic errors, more prominent in fine motor skill tasks.
Intention tremor was first described by Jean-Martin Charcot in 1868, who noticed that multiple sclerosis (MS) patients could be differentiated from Parkinson disease (PD) patients by the type of tremor they present. MS is the most common cause of intention tremor. MS patients had intention tremors along with nystagmus and scanning speech, bearing his name as the Charcot's triad.
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