Movement Disorder Dystonia Causes Involuntary Dystonic Movements
Dystonia is a rare movement disorder that causes involuntary dystonic, or sustained, muscle contractions.
Dystonia’s muscle shortening may occur in a single muscle, a group of muscles or your whole body. The area affected may get twisted because of the nature of its contraction.
Initially, dystonic movements are usually intermittent. As it progresses, dystonia caused movement can become unrelenting and painful.
Symptoms of dystonia vary widely based on which muscles are involved. Some examples are:
- stiff neck
- squinting
- foot dragging
- rapid blinking
- writer’s cramp
- excessive gripping
- speech interruption
- swallowing difficulty
- breathy, whispering voice
- awkward posture of head & neck
- head ~ twist, turned, pulled forward, backward
- yips ~ sudden, involuntary spasm that interrupts calculated movement
At the start, your symptoms can be very mild. Or you may only notice the effects of this movement disorder after prolonged exertion, stress or fatigue.
For most cases of dystonia, the cause is unknown. But sometimes dystonic movement results from another health problem, such as:
- stroke
- brain injury
- brain tumor
- oxygen deprivation
- infections ~ tuberculosis, encephalitis
- heavy metal, carbon monoxide poisoning
- drug reaction ~ antihistamines, antiepileptics, caffeine, antidepressants, oral contraceptives, lithium, cocaine
Other disorders can express some similarity to dystonia, like:
Check out We Move website for a thorough examination of this “causing a twisting” health condition.
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