What are the symptoms of dystonia?
What are the symptoms of dystonia?
In general, the key symptom of dystonia is uncontrollable muscle movements. These movements are often:
- Uncomfortable or even painful, sometimes feeling like electric shocks.
- Repetitive (especially with tremors).
- Variable in how long they last; some last seconds or minutes while others can continue for months.
- Twisting or stretching in nature, causing a person to look like they’re holding an unusual pose.
- Worse when using the affected muscles.
There are also some slight differences in the symptoms depending on where dystonia happens in your body. There are five main ways that symptoms happen (with more about each below):
- Focal dystonia.
- Segmental dystonia.
- Multifocal dystonia.
- Hemidystonia.
- Generalized dystonia.
Focal dystonia
Focal dystonia only affects one part of your body, and experts estimate these cases are about 10 times more common than generalized dystonia cases. Depending on the body part affected, this can take different forms:
- Eyelids: Eyelid spasms (blepharospasm).
- Jaw: Teeth-grinding (bruxism).
- Hand or wrist: Cramps or muscle spasms, often known as “writer’s cramp” or “musician’s cramp.” Golfers and baseball players often call these “the yips.”
Segmental dystonia
This affects two or more adjacent body parts, such as different parts of your face, your head and neck, or your hand and arm. The most common example of segmental dystonia is cervical dystonia, which affects muscles in your head and neck. Another example is Meige syndrome, which affects multiple parts of your face.
Multifocal dystonia
This affects two or more body parts that aren’t directly connected. An example of this is dystonia that affects both hands. Tardive dyskinesia is an example of multifocal dystonia when it affects more than one non-connected part of your body.
Hemidystonia
Hemidystonia gets its name partly from the Greek word “hemi,” which means “half.” In this context, it affects just half — one side — of your body. An example of this is uncontrollable muscle movements in the right side of your face and your right hand. Strokes are a key cause of hemidystonia.
Generalized dystonia
This can involve your body’s leg and trunk (the main part of your body to which your arms, legs and head connect) or even your entire body. This can happen when dystonia is progressive, meaning it worsens over time. When focal dystonia turns into generalized dystonia, the symptoms spread from your limbs to the trunk of your body.