Dystonia is a neurologic disorder characterized by involuntary, sustained, patterned, and often repetitive muscle contractions of opposing muscles that cause twisting movements, abnormal postures, or both (1). One of the earliest descriptions of dystonia was provided in 1888 by Gowers, who used the term “tetanoid chorea” to describe the movement disorder in two siblings who were later diagnosed to have Wilson’s disease. The term “dystonia musculorum deformans,” coined by Oppenheim in 1911, was criticized for several reasons: fluctuating muscle tone was not necessarily characteristic of the disorder; the term “musculorum” incorrectly implied that the involuntary movement was due to a muscle disorder; and not all patients.
