Effect of Osteopathic Manipulative Medicine on Motor Function and Quality of Life in Cervical Dystonia

Cervical dystonia, also called spasmodic torticollis, is a type of neurological disorder characterized by spastic muscles in the neck that is largely underdiagnosed despite its progression to disability during midlife. Cervical dystonia occurs in at least 0.390% of the United States population in 2007 (390 per 100,000). Symptoms commonly include stiffness, pain, headaches, difficulty swallowing, fatigue, and difficulty walking. The current standard treatment is intramuscular botulinum toxin injection every 90 days. The effect of the botulinum toxin increases gradually, and then it decreases until there is little to no effect at 90 days post-injection. The purpose of the proposed research is to determine if Osteopathic manipulative medicine (OMM) used in combination with the standard treatment of botulinum toxin intramuscular injections improves motor function and quality of life amongst people with cervical dystonia.

The investigators propose to use Vicon 3-dimensional gait and posture analysis to determine the biomechanics of subjects with primary cervical dystonia to compare with full body complaints from a standard spasmodic torticollis/cervical dystonia questionnaire as well as the osteopathic structural exam. These measures will be assessed before and after four OMM treatments. In addition, the investigators propose to use osteopathic manual medicine along with botulinum toxin injection to improve the subjects' pain and motor function as evaluated by Vicon 3-dimensional gait and posture analysis and questionnaire regarding quality of life. Preliminary case reports suggest that Osteopathic manipulative medicine without botulinum toxin injections improved pain, posture, gait, and quality of life in four adult subjects as well as improved head tilt in two children (two- and five-years old). The central hypothesis is that osteopathic manual medicine will significantly improve the range of motion, motor function, and quality of life of subjects with primary cervical dystonia.

Aims:

Aim I. To determine 3-Dimensional gait and posture biomechanics of subjects with untreated primary cervical dystonia while walking, and to investigate the effectiveness of OMM in treating abnormal biomechanics in these subjects.

Hypothesis I: People with cervical dystonia have similar abnormalities in posture and structural exam that significantly alters their gait and full body motor function that can be significantly improved with OMM.