A new twist on neuro disease: Discovery could aid people with dystonia, Parkinson’s and more

Twist and hold your neck to the left. Now down, and over to the right, until it hurts. Now imagine your neck – or arms or legs – randomly doing that on their own, without you controlling it.

That’s a taste of what children and adults with a neurological condition called dystonia live with every day – uncontrollable twisting and stiffening of neck and limb muscles.

The mystery of why this happens, and what can prevent or treat it, has long puzzled doctors, who have struggled to help their suffering dystonia patients. Now, new re-search from a University of Michigan Medical School team may finally open the door to answering those questions and developing new options for patients.

In a new paper in the Journal of Clinical Investigation, the researchers describe new strains of mice they’ve developed that almost perfectly mimic a human form of the disease. They also…