Journal
TREMOR AND OTHER HYPERKINETIC MOVEMENTS
Volume 13, Issue -, Pages -Publisher
UBIQUITY PRESS LTD
DOI: 10.5334/tohm.737
Keywords
Task-specific dystonia; athletes; behavioural therapy; sports; golf; yips; runner's dystonia
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This study presents a case series of 4 advanced skill-level athletes with suspected task-specific dystonia. The combination of standardized behavioural therapy and relaxation techniques, in the form of hypnosis, proved to be a safe and promising treatment, resulting in improvement and full recovery of the athletes' performance.
Background: Task-specific dystonia is a movement disorder of the central nervous system characterized by focal involuntary spasms and muscle contractions, which can negatively affect performance of a specific task. It can affect a wide range of fine motor skills, also in athletes. Current management of task-specific dystonia includes mainly prescribing drugs, exercise therapy or botulinum injections to the affected muscles. Psychological interventions for athletes suffering from task-specific dystonia have not been described extensively so far. Methods: We present a case-series of 4 different advanced skill-level athletes with suspected task-specific dystonia, which had a major impact on their performance. They all received treatment consisting of a combination of standardized behavioural therapy and relaxation techniques in the form of hypnosis in a total of 8 sessions in a 16-week time period. Results: After treatment, all athletes returned to their original high level of sport performance without further symptoms of their suspected task-specific dystonia. Discussion: Behavioural therapy in combination with a relaxation technique seems to be a safe and promising treatment for athletes with suspected task-specific dystonia. Further studies in a larger, preferably randomized controlled trial, are warranted to evaluate if this treatment strategy is effective in athletes with suspected task-specific dystonia.
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