Rower’s Dystonia

Abstract

Task-specific action dystonia, also known as occupational cramp, is a focal dystonia which is absent at rest and occurs only during the performance of repetitive, highly skilled movements. Currently, the most common task-specific dystonias are writer’s cramp and musician’s dystonia. The condition has also been described among recreational athletes including pistol-shooters, dart throwers, long-distance runners, table tennis players, and golfers. These are uncommon disorders which often go undiagnosed for long periods of time. Here we describe a case of task-specific action dystonia in a competitive rower. This appears to be a task-specific action dystonia because of its exclusive occurrence during performance of a skilled motor task, its occurrence after a prolonged period of intensive training, and the absence of any contributory neurologic or orthopedic abnormalities.

This chapter contains a video segment which can be found at the URL: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-60327-426-5_56