What is cervical dystonia?

What is cervical dystonia?

Cervical dystonia, also called spasmodic torticollis, is a painful condition characterised by involuntary contractions of the neck muscles causing it to rotate to the one side. These spasms can also be, less commonly, in a forward, tilted or backward direction.

Cervical dystonia is a rare condition that occurs generally in people aged 30-60 but can occur at any time. It also is not gender specific but tends to affect women more than men. Symptoms tend to begin gradually and progress for a short while, normally over a few weeks or months (up to a year) and then stabilise after that. Remission is possible in a very small minority of people but there is no cure for it and management of its symptoms is normally the best prognosis for most sufferers.

What treatments are available?

The basis of all treatment is to relax the contracted muscles (reduce the muscle tone):

• The most effective treatment seems to be the injection of botulinum toxins into the affected muscles to reduce its tone and thereby the spasming.
• Parkinson’s drugs have also proven to be effective in reducing the tremor associated with this condition. These drugs are normally used in conjunction with the botulinum toxins.
• Muscle relaxants can be used but have shown to not have much effect and tend to have negative side effects.
• Therapy can be used in conjunction with the above medications to assist the lengthening and reduction in tone of the affected muscles. What has also proven to be effective is tactile (touch) inhibition. What this means is that it has been proven that by just touching the face on the opposite side of the spasm has proven to ‘trick’ the muscle to relax.

When these non-invasive options have been explored, there are surgical interventions available but should only be explored as a last resort.