Rare diseases · Sign or symptom
Hyperreflexia
Increased reflexes
HP:0001347
What it means
Hyperreflexia is the presence of hyperactive stretch reflexes of the muscles.
Reflexes are graded according to the following scale: 0=absent; 1=present but diminished; 2=normoactive; 3=exaggerated; and 4=clonus. Clonus is always abnormal, and a grade 3 reflex may be abnormal if it is asymmetric or if it was previously grade 2 or less.
Rare diseases that can present with this249
Very common80–99%
60- Alexander disease
- Autosomal dominant spastic ataxia type 1
- Autosomal dominant spastic paraplegia type 12
- Autosomal dominant spastic paraplegia type 19
- Autosomal dominant spastic paraplegia type 36
- Autosomal dominant spastic paraplegia type 38
- Autosomal dominant spastic paraplegia type 41
- Autosomal dominant spastic paraplegia type 42
- Autosomal dominant spastic paraplegia type 73
- Autosomal dominant spastic paraplegia type 8
- Autosomal recessive congenital cerebellar ataxia due to MGLUR1 deficiency
- Autosomal recessive spastic ataxia-optic atrophy-dysarthria syndrome
- Autosomal recessive spastic ataxia with leukoencephalopathy
- Autosomal recessive spastic paraplegia type 14
- Autosomal recessive spastic paraplegia type 24
- Autosomal recessive spastic paraplegia type 28
- Autosomal recessive spastic paraplegia type 35
- Autosomal recessive spastic paraplegia type 78
- Autosomal spastic paraplegia type 18
- Cocaine embryofetopathy
- Congenital ichthyosis-microcephalus-tetraplegia syndrome
- De Barsy syndrome
- Dysequilibrium syndrome
- Dysmorphism-cleft palate-loose skin syndrome
- Gemignani syndrome
- GM1 gangliosidosis
- GM2 gangliosidosis, AB variant
- Hartnup disease
- Hereditary hyperekplexia
- Huntington disease
- Hyperornithinemia-hyperammonemia-homocitrullinuria syndrome
- Infantile choroidocerebral calcification syndrome
- Infantile-onset ascending hereditary spastic paralysis
- Juvenile primary lateral sclerosis
- Keppen-Lubinsky syndrome
- L1 syndrome
- Linear nevus sebaceus syndrome
- MASA syndrome
- Microcephalic primordial dwarfism, Montreal type
- Mucolipidosis type IV
- Mutilating hereditary sensory neuropathy with spastic paraplegia
- Neonatal adrenoleukodystrophy
- Olivopontocerebellar atrophy-deafness syndrome
- Otofaciocervical syndrome
- PEHO syndrome
- Peroxisomal acyl-CoA oxidase deficiency
- Pontocerebellar hypoplasia type 10
- Pseudo-TORCH syndrome type 1
- Sandhoff disease, infantile form
- Spastic paraparesis-deafness syndrome
- Spastic paraplegia-facial-cutaneous lesions syndrome
- Spastic paraplegia-nephritis-deafness syndrome
- Spastic paraplegia type 2
- Spastic tetraplegia-thin corpus callosum-progressive postnatal microcephaly syndrome
- Spinal arteriovenous metameric syndrome
- Spinocerebellar ataxia type 23
- Spinocerebellar ataxia type 3
- Toluene embryopathy
- White matter hypoplasia-corpus callosum agenesis-intellectual disability syndrome
- Williams syndrome
Common30–79%
19- 3-methylglutaconic aciduria-neonatal cataract-neurologic involvement-congenital neutropenia syndrome
- Adrenomyeloneuropathy
- Adult-onset autosomal dominant leukodystrophy
- Adult-onset autosomal recessive cerebellar ataxia
- Alexander disease type II
- ALG11-CDG
- Allan-Herndon-Dudley syndrome
- Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis
- Ataxia-pancytopenia syndrome
- Atypical pantothenate kinase-associated neurodegeneration
- Autosomal dominant spastic paraplegia type 13
- Autosomal dominant spastic paraplegia type 17
- Autosomal dominant spastic paraplegia type 37
- Autosomal recessive ataxia, Beauce type
- Autosomal recessive cerebellar ataxia due to STUB1 deficiency
- Autosomal recessive primary microcephaly
- Autosomal recessive spastic paraplegia type 20
- Autosomal recessive spastic paraplegia type 21
- Autosomal recessive spastic paraplegia type 23
The range is how often this sign appears among people diagnosed with each disease — it is not a probability of having any of them. Many of these signs also occur in common, non-rare conditions. A sign on this page is a conversation to have with a clinician, not a conclusion.
Part of the broader category
Also called: Increased deep tendon reflexes
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Start free with EleplanThis page uses the Human Phenotype Ontology (2026-06-23) — Human Phenotype Ontology Consortium, hpo.jax.org. Disease associations from Orphanet (INSERM), CC BY 4.0. Content is educational and is not medical advice.