Spasmodic torticollis is a spasm of the muscles of the neck, because of which the head rotates or involuntarily tilts. According to statistics, one person has a disease of ten thousand. At the same time, women suffer from spasms more often than men.
Causes of spasmodic torticollis
Very often the disease is diagnosed in newborns, which may be due to trauma from childbirth, or a long head in one position. Of course, the causes that cause torticollis in adults are somewhat different. The main risk factors for the development of spastic torticollis are as follows:
- Neuroinfection;
- Parkinsonism;
- Alzheimer's disease ;
- spine trauma;
- arteriosclerosis of cerebral vessels;
- intoxication;
- inflammation of the nervous system;
- brain tumor ;
- birth injury;
- cerebral paralysis.
In elderly people spastic torticollis or as it is also called - cervical dystonia - develops against the background of degenerative-dystrophic diseases of the spine: scoliosis, osteochondrosis, spondylosis.
Symptoms of spasmodic torticollis
The main symptom of the disease is spasms. They can start suddenly. Attacks can be permanent or intermittent. Often, the affected muscles are only one side of the neck. The head turns or bends, depending on which muscle is affected by spasm the most.
There are several basic forms of torticollis:
- the head rotates along the vertical axis;
- the head leans forward;
- the head bends back;
- the head is pressed to the shoulder.
Pathological movements can be slow or pronounced. In some patients, spasms in parallel to the neck also occur in other muscles: face, eyelids, arms, jaws.
Treatment of spasmodic torticollis
Treatment of cervical dystonia differs depending on the cause of the disease. And with the growth of bone tissue will cope
The best thing with spasms is fighting massage and physiotherapy. If after the patient's procedures continue to torment the pain, you can use medications-antispasmodics.
Surgical intervention is resorted only if none of the methods works. During surgery, the patient's legs are cut through the clavicle.
Treatment of spasmodic torticollis with folk remedies (mummies, pork fat or lavender broth) is not always effective, but it does not hurt painfully.