Brain mapping technology finds link to painful neck disorder

The potential cause of cervical dystonia, a debilitating neurological disorder that affects the neck, has been identified by a researcher at Deakin University in Victoria.

Daniel Corp, a neuroscientist at the university’s school of psychology, used brain imaging to study lesions that cause cervical dystonia. The disorder causes uncontrollable and painful muscle contractions and is the third most common body movement disorder after benign essential tremor and Parkinson’s disease.

“The main barrier to finding targeted treatments is finding which parts of the brain are affected…We found the brain lesions causing cervical dystonia are connected to two specific lesions in the brain—the cerebellum and the sensory cortex,” he said in a university statement.