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Throughout the semester we learned about the mechanics of a muscle contraction and their functions. Dystonia is a movement disorder that is characterized as slow, often repetitive involuntary movements and posture, (Fehlings, 2024). This movement disorder causes the skeletal muscles to continuously contract which can cause twisting motions, and patterned movements that occur repeatedly, out of the individual’s control. Dystonia can cause stiff abnormal postures, hypertonia, as well as interfering with different activities in a person’s day to day , impacting motor function as well as causing pain (Fehlings, 2024).
I chose to do a flip book as my selected media in order to portray the effects of dystonia as well as following the course objective describing how a muscle contraction is induced. Throughout the flip book I sketched a repetitive sequence of drawings, illustrating a muscular model gradually moving their head towards their shoulder and back up. This specific type of movement and area of muscle affected is classified as cervical dystonia which causes the head to twist in different directions. The next symptom I portrayed was blepharospasm dystonia, demonstrated by an eye blinking repeatedly. I chose this medium to show more than one effect of dystonia in the body and because I saw that stop animation with its focus on gradual movements, really reflected the gradual movements that can be seen dystonia.
A muscle contraction occurs when an action potential gets sent down the nerve. Throughout skeletal muscle one nerve will excite one muscle unit. The action potential will then release acetylcholine at the juncture between the nerve and the muscle. That will then signal an action potential to occur in the muscle. The action potential will then cause the release of calcium and that release is going to remove troponin. This step allows myosin and actin to interact which then causes cross bridges to begin forming. ATP is used for mechanical work. In order to stop myosin and actin from interacting, calcium gets pumped out of the intracellular space to reset the system (Larson, 2024). If someone has dystonia then the step that is affected during a regular muscle contraction would be impacted while the action potential is getting sent down the nerve. The part of the brain that is affected by dystonia is called the basal ganglia. It is an area of the inner brain that is responsible for sensory and motor activity in order to continue muscle activation and create muscle contractions (Iltis, 2022). In dystonia, there is abnormal activity in the basal ganglia which causes an imbalance in the signals sent to the muscles which causes involuntary muscle contractions.
Dystonia can be caused by many things. It can be initiated or worsened through different actions that are associated with an extensive amount of muscle activation. It affects people of all ages and genders, and is present in roughly 300,000 people in the United States alone. There are many types such as cervical, focal, laryngeal, blepharospasm, writer’s dystonia, and oromandibular dystonia. There is no cure for dystonia that can restore complete function (Iltis, 2022). The management for this movement disorder is constantly progressing, in recent years scientists and doctors now know that multimodal, multidisciplinary management is incredibly necessary for treatment, contributing to rehabilitation therapy, physical therapy, muscle relaxant drugs, and much more (Puertas, 2024). Dystonia is seen as a symptom through other diseases and disorders, however it is important to note this is known as secondary dystonia. In the umbrella of other diseases it is seen in Parkison’s disease, Huntington’s disease, Wilson’s disease, brain injuries, strokes, brain tumors, lack of oxygen or monoxide poisoning, infections, or reactions to certain medicines (Mayo Clinic, 2024).
Work Cited:
Mayo Clinic, S. (2024). Dystonia. Mayo Clinic. https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/dystonia/symptoms-causes/syc-20350480
Puertas, V. (2022). Intrathecal baclofen therapy as treatment for spasticity and dystonia: Review of cases in a pediatric palliative care unit. Science Direct. https://doi.org/October
Iltis, P. (2022). Dystonia. Salem Press Encyclopedia of Health. https://research-ebsco-com.uaf.idm.oclc.org/c/qg64q2/viewer/html/d6lnxw7iyb
Breakefield, X., Blood, A., Li, Y., Hallett, M., Hanson, P., & Standaert, D. (2008). The pathophysiological basis of dystonias. Nature Publishing Group, 8, 222. https://doi.org/March
Fehlings, D., Falck-Ytter, Y., Bohn, E., Rice, J., Monbaliu, E., Mink, J., Lin, J. P., Himmelmann, K., Harvey, A., Gimeno, H., & Agnew, B. (2024). Pharmacological and neurosurgical management of cerebral palsy and dystonia: Clinical practice guideline update. Developmental Medicine & Child Neurology. https://doi.org/April