Beevor's sign is

medical sign Signs and symptoms are the observed or detectable signs, and experienced symptoms of an illness, injury, or condition. A sign for example may be a higher or lower temperature than normal, raised or lowered blood pressure or an abnormality showin ...

in which the

navel The navel (clinically known as the umbilicus, commonly known as the belly button or tummy button) is a protruding, flat, or hollowed area on the abdomen at the attachment site of the umbilical cord. All placental mammals have a navel, although ...

moves towards the head upon flexing the neck, indicating selective weakness of the lower abdominal muscles. Causes include spinal cord injury,

amyotrophic lateral sclerosis Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also known as motor neuron disease (MND) or Lou Gehrig's disease, is a neurodegenerative disease that results in the progressive loss of motor neurons that control voluntary muscles. ALS is the most comm ...

(ALS), and

facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy Facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy (FSHD) is a type of muscular dystrophy, a group of heritable diseases that cause degeneration of muscle and progressive weakness. Per the name, FSHD tends to sequentially weaken the muscles of the face, ...

(FSHD).

Etymology

The sign is named after

Charles Edward Beevor Charles Edward Beevor (12 June 1854 – 5 December 1908) was an English neurologist and anatomist who described Beevor's sign, the Jaw jerk reflex, and the area of the brain supplied by the anterior choroidal artery. He also coined Beevor's axio ...

, an English neurologist (1854–1908) who first described it.

Pathophysiology

Beevor's sign occurs when the upper part of the

rectus abdominis muscle The rectus abdominis muscle, ( la, straight abdominal) also known as the "abdominal muscle" or simply the "abs", is a paired straight muscle. It is a paired muscle, separated by a midline band of connective tissue called the linea alba. It exte ...

is intact but the lower part is weak. When the patient is asked to raise his head as he lies

supine In grammar, a supine is a form of verbal noun used in some languages. The term is most often used for Latin, where it is one of the four principal parts of a verb. The word refers to a position of lying on one's back (as opposed to 'prone', lyi ...

on bed, the upper part of the muscle contracts disproportionately more than the lower portion, pulling the umbilicus toward the head.

Clinical significance

Beevor’s sign is characteristic of

spinal cord The spinal cord is a long, thin, tubular structure made up of nervous tissue, which extends from the medulla oblongata in the brainstem to the lumbar region of the vertebral column (backbone). The backbone encloses the central canal of the spi ...

injury between T9 and T10 levels. The sign has also been observed in

, a disease causing progressive weakening of the muscles of multiple areas of the body, and in

(FSHD), a disease named after areas of the body it preferentially weakens (face, shoulder, and upper arm). FSHD tends to affect the lower rectus abdominis more than the upper. It has also been described in

inclusion body myositis Inclusion body myositis (IBM) () (sometimes called sporadic inclusion body myositis, sIBM) is the most common inflammatory muscle disease in older adults. The disease is characterized by slowly progressive weakness and wasting of both proximal ...

References

{{Eponymous medical signs for nervous system Diagnostic neurology Symptoms and signs: Nervous system