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.
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:
- one part of the body - known as focal dystonia
- two parts - known as segmental dystonia
- several parts - known as multifocal dystonia
- most of the body - known as generalised dystonia.
