Skip Navigation

This Article
Right arrow Full Text Freely available
Right arrow FREE Full Text (PDF) Freely available
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in ISI Web of Science
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow Search for citing articles in:
ISI Web of Science (19)
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Right arrow Disclaimer
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Tijssen, M. A. J.
Right arrow Articles by Brown, P.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Tijssen, M. A. J.
Right arrow Articles by Brown, P.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

Brain, Vol. 123, No. 4, 677-686, April 2000
© 2000 Oxford University Press

Frequency analysis of EMG activity in patients with idiopathic torticollis

M. A. J. Tijssen1,2, J. F. Marsden1 and P. Brown1

1 MRC Human Movement and Balance Unit, Institute of Neurology, London, UK and 2 Department of Clinical Neurology, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, The Netherlands

Correspondence to: Dr Marina A. J. de Koning-Tijssen, Department of Neurology H2–222, Academic Medical Center, University of Amsterdam, PO Box 22660, 1100 DD Amsterdam, The Netherlands E-mail: M.A.Tijssen{at}amc.uva.nl

The pathophysiology of idiopathic dystonic torticollis is unclear and there is no simple test that confirms the diagnosis and excludes a psychogenic or voluntary torticollis in individual patients. We recorded EMG activity in the sternocleidomastoid (SCM) and splenius capitis (SPL) muscles of eight patients with rotational torticollis and eight age-matched controls, and analysed the signals in the frequency and time domains. All control subjects but one showed a significant peak in the autospectrum of the SPL EMG at 10–12 Hz, which was absent in all patients with torticollis. Conversely, patients with torticollis had evidence of a 4–7 Hz drive to the SPL and SCM that was absent in coherence spectra from controls. The pooled cumulant density estimates revealed a peak in both groups, and within the patient group there was a second narrow subpeak with a width of 13 ms. The activity in the SCM and SPL was in phase in the patients but not in the controls. The lack of any phase difference and the suggestion of short-term synchronization between SCM and SPL are consistent with an abnormal corticoreticular and corticospinal drive in dystonic torticollis. Clinically, the pattern of SPL EMG autospectra and of SCM–SPL coherence may provide a sensitive and specific feature distinguishing dystonic from psychogenic torticollis.


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?


This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 J. Neurophysiol.Home page
F. Farshadmanesh, P. Chang, H. Wang, X. Yan, B. D. Corneil, and J. D. Crawford
Neck Muscle Synergies During Stimulation and Inactivation of the Interstitial Nucleus of Cajal (INC)
J Neurophysiol, September 1, 2008; 100(3): 1677 - 1685.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 BrainHome page
A. Sharott, P. Grosse, A. A. Kuhn, F. Salih, A. K. Engel, A. Kupsch, G.-H. Schneider, J. K. Krauss, and P. Brown
Is the synchronization between pallidal and muscle activity in primary dystonia due to peripheral afferance or a motor drive?
Brain, February 1, 2008; 131(2): 473 - 484.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 J. Neurophysiol.Home page
J.-S. Blouin, G. P. Siegmund, M. G. Carpenter, and J. T. Inglis
Neural Control of Superficial and Deep Neck Muscles in Humans
J Neurophysiol, August 1, 2007; 98(2): 920 - 928.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 NeurologyHome page
C. C. Chen, A. A. Kuhn, K. -T. Hoffmann, A. Kupsch, G. -H. Schneider, T. Trottenberg, J. K. Krauss, J. C. Wohrle, E. Bardinet, J. Yelnik, et al.
Oscillatory pallidal local field potential activity correlates with involuntary EMG in dystonia
Neurology, February 14, 2006; 66(3): 418 - 420.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 J Child NeurolHome page
T. D. Sanger
Pathophysiology of Pediatric Movement Disorders
J Child Neurol, January 1, 2003; 18(1_suppl): S9 - S24.
[Abstract] [PDF]


Disclaimer: Please note that abstracts for content published before 1996 were created through digital scanning and may therefore not exactly replicate the text of the original print issues. All efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, but the Publisher will not be held responsible for any remaining inaccuracies. If you require any further clarification, please contact our Customer Services Department.