Acknowledgement
We would like to acknowledge use of information taken from The Parkinson’s Disease Society (UK) information sheet ‘Muscle Cramps and Dystonias '.
Dystonia is a movement disorder that causes the body to go into spasm. Its causes are not fully understood, but seem to be related to changes in the basal ganglia area of the brain, an area affected by Parkinson’s disease.
The signals that the basal ganglia send to the muscles become irregular, often due to reduced dopamine levels. These messages cause opposing muscles to contract simultaneously and repeatedly over a prolonged period of time and results in painful involuntary twisting and problems controlling movement.
Dystonia can affect:
According to the Dystonia Medical Research Centre in Canada and the Bachmann-Strauss Dystonia & Parkinson Foundation in the US, dystonia is estimated to affect between 300,000 and 500,000 people in North America – a third of which are children. The Dystonia Society estimates there are at least 40,000 people living with dystonia in the UK, of which 2,000 are under the age of 16.
Collective name for conditions that affect a person’s abilities to produce and control movement. They include Parkinson’s disease, restless leg syndrome and dystonia.
The part of the brain that is responsible for the control of movement. Dopamine, the neurotransmitter that is in short supply in the brains of people with Parkinson's disease, is made in a section of the basal ganglia known as the substantia nigra.
A neurotransmitter produced in the substantia nigra, which forms part of the basal gangia in the brain. It sends messages from the brain to other parts of the body and has a major role in the control of movement. There is a shortage of dopamine in the brains of people with Parkinson's disease.
