Usually, when a movement is made, excitation and inhibition work in harmony so contraction of the agonist muscles is coordinated with relaxation of the antagonist muscles. In patients with dystonia there is deficient inhibition of the antagonist muscles. This can result in co-contraction, where the agonist and antagonist muscles contract together.

Research has identified that the major role of the basal ganglia is to balance excitation and inhibition (just like a pair of scales). However, in dystonia this delicate balance is not attained. It is not yet certain whether the problem is with the direct pathway, the indirect pathway or both. However, as dystonia appears to result from insufficient inhibition in the muscles, it may be that the indirect pathway is failing, resulting in impaired suppression of muscle activity. The lack of inhibition of antagonist or surrounding muscles ultimately causes the co-contraction or overflow phenomena seen in dystonia.

One area of focus has been to look at whether dystonia is caused by a shortage of the inhibitory neurotransmitter GABA. It seems plausible that a shortage of an inhibitory neurotransmitter such as GABA may play a role, since dystonia seems to be a failure of inhibition. At present this is a theory that remains unproven; however, one of the treatments for dystonia, which helps in some cases, is to prescribe medications that increase the quantity of GABA such as benzodiazepines, gabapentin or baclofen.

Courtesy of http://www.dystonia.org.uk/

Dystonia is either:

• Generalised – most common in young patients
• Focal – starts in adulthood, affecting one or more parts of the body

The following members of the NZDPN are available to provide advice and support to others nearby and/or with their form of dystonia.   The Area Contact Persons are listed both geographically and by type of dystonia.  When contacting them by email please put ‘Dystonia’ in the subject line to minimise the risk that your message is treated as spam.

For information about a support group in your area please e-mail support@dystonia.org.nz

Dystonia Medical Research Foundation (DMRF)

www.dystonia-foundation.org          info@dystonia-foundation.org

The Dystonia Society

http://www.dystonia.org.uk/             info@dystonia.org.uk

National Spasmodic Dysphonia Association (NSDA)

www.dysphonia.org                         nsda@dysphonia.org

Benign Essential Blepharospasm Foundation (BEBRF)

http://www.blepharospasm.org/        bebrf@sbcglobal.net