Chorea is a continuous, random-appearing sequence of one or more discrete involuntary movements or movement fragments.
Hyperkinesia, more specifically chorea, is the hallmark symptom of Huntington's disease, formerly referred to as Huntington’s chorea.
The term was apparently introduced in 1877 by the German-English physician Julius Althaus in his book on Diseases of the Nervous System, in a sentence reading, "In some cases there is a perfect chorea or delirium of words, which may be called paraphasia".
Involuntary movements can take many forms such as ballism, chorea or dystonia and usually only affect one side of the body or one limb in particular.
The field of Movement Disorders includes the following areas: Parkinson's disease and parkinsonism, ataxia, dystonia, chorea and Huntington's disease, tics and Tourette syndrome, myoclonus and startle, restless leg syndrome, stiff person syndrome, tremor and essential tremor, and gait disorders.