About Parkinson's Disease & Movement Disorder The area of
movement disorders includes problems such as tremor, Parkinson's
disease and Parkinsonian syndromes, dystonia (including
torticollis, spasmodic dysphonia and blepharospasm), restless
leg syndrome, tic and Tourette syndrome, chorea, spasticity and
tardive dyskinesia. Parkinson's disease is a neurological
disorder characterized by tremor at rest, rigidity, and
difficulty initiating movement. It is caused by the selective
death of neurons in a the ventral midbrain, an area that is
critical for movement. As of yet, no one knows precisely why
these cells die. Dystonia is a neurological disorder in which
uncontrollable muscle contractions force certain parts of the
body into abnormal, sometimes painful, movements or postures.
The most common form of dystonia is cervical dystonia, sometimes
called spasmodic torticollis, in contractions of the neck and/or
shoulder muscles cause the head to twist or tilt. Although some
of the dystonias are caused by another dis