Hypertonia is generally not self-correcting and requires recovery aided by rehabilitation methods such as anti-spasticity, early weight bearing, walking training, and joint exercises.
Hypertonia is characterized by muscle stiffness, increased resistance to passive movement, and decreased range of motion of joints, and is seen in cone system and extrapyramidal lesions.
Conic system lesions manifested as spasmodic muscle tone increase, upper limb flexor muscle and lower limb extensor muscle tone increase obviously, passive movement resistance at the beginning of the large, become smaller at the end, known as folding knife-like muscle tone increase. It is commonly seen in cerebrovascular accident and brain tumor.
Extrapyramidal lesions are characterized by tonic dystonia, increased tension in both extensor and flexor muscles, and uniform resistance to passive movement in all directions, also known as lead pipe-like (without tremor) or cogwheel-like dystonia (with tremor). It is common in Parkinson’s disease.
Elevated muscle tone should often be restored through formal rehabilitation.