The various reflexes were normal; stimulation of the sole of the
foot evoked a flexor response on either side, and no symptom of
hysteria was forthcoming. The disease had made its appearance in
1879, when, without discoverable motive, the head had commenced to
tremble and to work round to the left. Section of the tendon of the
sternomastoid did not impede the development of the affection,
which two years ago increased in intensity, when the
above-mentioned movements in the arms were superadded. The
likelihood seemed to be that they were of the same nature and
origin as the torticollis itself.
In reference to this communication, the following remarks were offered
by Professor Brissaud:
It is true of all forms of functional hyperkinesis, that the
indefinitely prolonged repetition of the same act leads finally not
merely to muscular hypertrophy, but to a ceaseless over-activity of
contraction in all the muscles affected. That this hypertrophy and
hyperexcitability depend on some organic central lesion is not the
necessary sequel. A purely functional exasperation may entail
visible augmentation of movement, the cause of which is not
central, but lies in the external manifestation of muscular
over-activity.
The antagonistic gesture is, in some instances, contemporaneous with the
wryneck, although more usually it is not in evidence until months or
years after the distortion has become inveterate.
Mental torticollis is characterised by remarkable chronicity. We have
seen cases of ten or fifteen years' duration and more. Temporary
remissions have been known, however, and alternations with other tics or
with psychical affections. At the Congress of Limoges, the following
case was reported by Briand:
As the result of a bicycle accident, a young man developed a
torticollis which ordinary treatment was sufficient to cure, and it
remained in abeyance until he entered a government school, when its
place was taken by a tic of the shoulder, with twitching of the
mouth and eye. At the approach of the annual vacation the tic
disappeared, and the torticollis, for some simple reason or other,
became obvious again. The latter had once more been got under
control by the time the holidays were over, but on the patient's
re-entering school the shoulder tic again manifested itself, and
this sequence recurred several times. A permanent cure was
eventually effected, but he continued as psychasthenic as ever.
In another of Briand's cases torticollis alternated with astasia-abasia,
a sort of "mental paraplegia." The patient could not walk at all without
crutches, or without a little _minerve_, which he used either to steady
his gait or to keep his head straight.
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