Disclosures: Ib R. Odderson, MD, PhD: No financial relationships or conflicts of interest

Objective: 1. To demonstrate the use of objective electrodiagnostic studies for diagnosing cervical dystonia in clinical practice, and assess for associated medical conditions. 2. To diagnosis accurately milder cases and earlier cases before abnormal head position and movements may occur.

Design: Retrospective chart review of patients diagnosed with cervical dystoniaSetting : Outpatient clinic at tertiary academic medical centerParticipants : Consecutive patients referred for head neck, shoulder and arm pain who were diagnosed with cervical dystonia based on electrodiagnostic studies

Interventions: All patients underwent an electromyography (EMG) assessment for dystonia of the most painful cervical and upper thoracic muscles.

Main Outcome Measures: For patients with objective findings of cervical dystonia we sought to determine the frequency of other concurrent medical conditions such as headache, hypermobility and thoracic outlet syndrome

Results: A total of 123 patients were diagnosed with cervical dystonia, with a predominance of females to males of 72%. The most common causes of precipitating events were trauma 50.4%, other 34.9% and overuse 14.6%. Headache and migraine were present in 60.2% while, 26.8% had thoracic outlet syndrome and 18.7% had hypermobility.Conclusions: When cervical dystonia is assessed with objective electrodiagnostic studies, a large proportion of patient were found to have associated medical conditions such as cervicogenic migraine, thoracic outlet syndrome and hypermobility. When these medical conditions are diagnosed alone, it may be appropriate to further assess for cervical dystonia.

Level of Evidence: Level III

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PM&R Meeting Abstracts - https://pmrjabstracts.org/abstract/electrodiagnosis-of-cervical-dystonia-in-current-clinical-practice-and-associated-conditions/