A Case of Posttraumatic Cervical Dystonia Treated with OnabotulinumtoxinA

Abstract

Cervical dystonia (CD) is a condition that typically presents with cervical muscle spasm, producing head tilt and cervical rotation. CD is most often idiopathic, however, in a small number of patients, CD occurs within one day to one year after mild to severe trauma. This type of CD is further classified as posttraumatic CD. OnabotulinumtoxinA (Botox) injections are considered to be a controversial treatment for posttraumatic CD and have produced variable result. This report describes the case of a 32-year-old female presenting with a two year history of posttraumatic CD and associated head, neck, and shoulder pain after obtaining a severe head injury during a motorcycle accident. OnabotulinumtoxinA was used to successfully treat her posttraumatic CD muscle spasms and associated chronic pain. Three months after her first and second ONA treatments, the patient reported at least 50% improvement in her overall pain symptoms and a noticeable reduction in cervical paraspinal muscle spasms.