View clinical trials related to Writer's Cramp.
Filter by:Writer's cramp is a focal dystonia characterized by abnormal movements and postures during writing. Limited finger independence during writing manifests as difficulty suppressing unwanted activations of neighbouring non task-relevant fingers. Patients with Writer's cramp also have difficulty in fine control of grip force. The investigators have recently developed the Finger Force Manipulandum which quantifies the forces applied by each fingers in different tasks. This method is sensitive for detection and quantification of small unwanted contractions in non-active ('stationary') fingers. Different tasks have been developed to assess abilities such as finger individuation but also fine finger force control, finger movement regularity and speed. The aim of this study is to assess if developed tasks allow to precisely characterize writer's cramp condition in terms of abilities aforementioned. To do so, performance of 20 writer's cramp patients in the developed task will be compared with performance of 20 control participants (matched in age, sex and writing hand) in the same tasks.
Task-specific focal dystonias are characterized by selective activation of dystonic movements during performance of highly learned motor tasks, such as writing or playing a musical instrument. To date, there is only limited knowledge about the distinct neural abnormalities that lead to the development of task-specificity in focal dystonias, which affect similar muscle groups but result in different clinical manifestations, such as writer's cramp vs. pianist's dystonia or spasmodic dysphonia vs. singer's dystonia. Our goal is to dissect the pathophysiological mechanisms underlying the phenomenon of task specificity in isolated focal dystonias using multi-level brain network analysis in conjunction with neuropathological examination of postmortem brain tissue from patients with dystonia. Rather than viewing these disorders as interesting curiosities, understanding the biology of task-specific activation of motor programs is central to understanding dystonia.
Background: - People with dystonia have muscle contractions they can t control. These cause slow, repeated motions or abnormal postures. People with dystonia have abnormalities in certain parts of the brain. Researchers want to study the activity of two different brain areas in people with writer s cramp and cervical dystonia. Objective: - To compare brain activity in people with dystonia to that in healthy people. Eligibility: - Right-handed people ages of 18-65 with cervical dystonia or writer s cramp. - Healthy volunteers the same ages. Design: - Participants will be screened with a physical exam. They will answer questions about being right- or left-handed. - At study visit 1, participants will:<TAB> - Have a neurological exam. - Answer questions about how their disease impacts their daily activities. - Have a structural magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scan. Participants will lie on a table that can slide <TAB>in and out of a metal cylinder. This is surrounded by a strong magnetic field. - Do 2 simple computer tasks. - At study visit 2: - Participants will have transcranial magnetic stimulations (TMS) at 2 places on the head. Two wire coils will be held on the scalp. A brief electrical current creates a magnetic pulse that affects brain activity. Muscles of the face, arm, or leg might twitch. Participants may have to tense certain muscles or do simple tasks during TMS. They may be asked to rate any discomfort caused by TMS. - Muscle activity in the right hand will be recorded by electrodes stuck to the skin of that hand.