Belly dancer's myoclonus and chronic abdominal pain: pain-related dysinhibition of a spinal cord central pattern generator?

We report on a patient with segmental rhythmic myoclonus resembling belly dance. This patient developed the myoclonus in temporal and anatomical association with chronic abdominal pain. No structural or metabolic abnormalities were found. EMG recordings suggested the presence of a spinal cord central pattern generator (CPG). We hypothesize that pain-related spinal plasticity might have contributed to the hyperactivity of a spinal CPG, thus leading to the myoclonic jerks in our patient.