blepharospasm/dystonia from neck injury - Neuromuscular Diseases Message Board

gregg2 · 01-05-2008, 01:09 AM

hello, I am wondering if anyone here knows if a sports injury to the neck can cause blepharospasm and/or dystonia in the limbs? my relative who has suffered from tourettes, has been having eye spasms that seem more like eye closure as well as some muscle cramps/twitching in an arm and leg that have started at a similar time to a mild to moderate neck injury that occurred from a wrestling neck crank that caused a few weeks of pain. It has not been diagnosed as dystonia but the sypmptoms sound similar. could a neck injury like that cause dystonia? thank you all.

rayefaye · 01-05-2008, 10:44 PM

Hello Gregg, I suffer from Cervical Dystonia and have never had an injury to the side of the neck that it is in. Sometimes you can have dystonia without no apparent reason. It could be something inherited or something that started in your youth and just got worse as you got older. There are many types of dystonia that affect the body in different ways. Have you seen a doctor about your condition? It is important to try to catch it early because dystonia can leave you disabled. For instance, Cervical Dystonia combined with another condition I have has lead to my left arm being locked in a position where my left hand touches my left shoulder. The only time I can stretch out my left arm is to put my clothes on or go to the bathroom. It also left me with about 30% usage of my right arm. So please have this checked out it's better to be safe than sorry.

feelbad · 01-06-2008, 09:47 AM

some type of damage to the sympathetic ganglion that sits within the neck could casue alot of different symptoms.the sympathetic and the para sympathetic just govern alot of body system functions.including a disruption to a certain muscle to the eye if it becomes damaged(the SNS) he could have what is called horners syndrome?i have a horners syndrome in my left eye that came from SNS damage during a spinal cord surgery.the SNS chain actually starts up in the neck area then runs down along both sides of the outside of the spinal column.but if he did damage in some way the actual stellate ganglion up in the neck itself,his symptoms could be much more profound.look up horners syndrome and see how his eye symptoms compare(does that pupil in the affected eye actually still resond to light change?is it always smaller than the oppositre eye?).then look into sympathetic nervoussystem damage to compare the overall symptoms he is experiencing with what is actually governed by it.you may see alot of connections.just one possibility.please keep us posted as to what you find out,K? marcia