It may happen that the onset is so stealthy that it eludes the subject's
own notice, and attention is called to his peculiar attitude by the
members of his circle. Not seldom the earliest localisation of the
condition in a particular muscle is abandoned in favour of some other,
and resumed at a subsequent stage. Occasionally the torticollis passes
from right to left, or vice versâ; occasionally, too, the clonic variety
may give way to the tonic after a few weeks or months.
It has been already remarked that at the outset the tic is infrequent,
and may depend for its manifestation on certain predetermined
circumstances, as, for instance, the exercise of the faculty of writing.
Such was the case with S., with P., and with N.
N. was a patient forty-eight years old, with a left torticollis
dating back twenty months. His account of its origin was to the
following effect: for some years he had been employed in a
commercial office, where from seven in the morning to eight at
night he was occupied in writing, head and body being turned to the
left. At the beginning of 1900, consequent on a succession of
troubles, he noticed that his head was twisting round to the left
in an exaggerated fashion while he was writing, and the rotation
gradually began to assert itself at other times, when he was
reading, or eating, or buttoning his boots. Even apart from any
other act, the rotatory movement soon became incessant, continuing
while he was on his feet, but vanishing completely if he lay down
or if the head was supported. At present he has the greatest
difficulty in writing, for his head at once deviates violently to
the right.
The spasmodic movements sometimes spread to the shoulder, arm, and
trunk, and, in one of our cases, to the leg. Should the condition be
advanced, it is frequently complicated by choreiform or athetotic
movements in the limbs, or by irregular and arhythmical tremors.
A case of this nature was shown at the Neurological Society of Paris by
Marie and Guillain[97]:
The patient, forty-nine years of age, was suffering from muscular
spasms that kept turning his head first to one side and then to the
other. Fixation of the head between the hands assured a few
moments' respite, but the convulsions were quick to reappear. The
left hand was constantly being brought up to the face in the
endeavour to procure immobility, while the arms were the seat of
abrupt jerking movements intermediate between tremor and chorea.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account