Hereditary spastic paraplegia

Hereditary spastic paraplegia, often shortened to HSP, is a group of inherited diseases whose main feature is a progressive gait disorder, with growing stiffness and contraction in the lower limbs. It is also called hereditary spastic paraparesis, familial spastic paraplegia, French settlement disease, Strumpell disease or Strumpell-Lorrain disease. The symptoms arise from dysfunction of the long axons in the spinal cord, and the affected cells are the primary motor neurons, so it counts as an upper motor neuron disease. It is not a form of cerebral palsy, although it can look similar and some of the same anti-spasticity medicines are used for both. The German neurologist Adolph Strumpell first described it in 1880, Maurice Lorrain described it more fully in 1888, and Anita Harding coined the term in 1983.