Guest Post: Acute idiopathic torticollis in a male high school basketball player.

Hey everybody! Today's post was written by my good friend Yuya Mukaihara. He was telling me about some success he was having using some Rocktape samples that I had given him so I asked him to write up one of the cases for my blog. So without further adou here it is:

I am one of Adam's classmates at Illinois State University and I work at a local HS. I am a Certified Athletic Trainer with CSCS, and NSCA-CT credentials. I have Graston Technique and Technica Gavilan IASTM certifications. I have also taken some PRI courses--Myokinematic Restoration, Postural Respiration, CCM, and I just finished Impingement & Instability this weekend. I use manual therapy, PRI, and corrective exercises in my practice but this case was an acute episode of left torticollis. So, I mostly used manual therapy to manage this case.

The athlete kind of looked like this...

Background

Torticollis, also called as cervical dystonia or spasmodic torticollis, is a condition of the neck that results in sustained involuntary muscle contractions that may cause pain and neck rigidity.^1,2 66% - 75% of the patients experience pain, which is the main cause of disability in those patients.¹ It is more common in women than men and occurs in 5 to 20 out of 100,000 individuals.² Idiopathic torticollis is considered as primary cervical dystonia due to no history of physical examination or laboratory tests whereas the secondary cervical dystonia is due to an abnormal developmental history.¹

Currently, the pathogenesis of torticollis and the anatomical origin of its symptoms are unclear; however, an onset of idiopathic torticollis is often gradual and it displays sustained co-contraction of agonists and antagonists of cervical muscules.^1,3 Commonly, it is treated with a series of Botulinum toxin A injections into overactive musculature.¹ However, torticollis can conservatively be managed by reducing pain and involuntary muscle contractions with Kinsiotaping ⁴, manual therapy ^5,6, and therapeutic exercises.³

In this case report, I used Muscle Energy Technique (MET) and Strain-Counterstrain (SCS) technique with an application of Rocktape to manage acute idiopathic torticollis in a male high school basketball player while he played playoff games.

Case Report

A 16 year-old basketball player came into the ATR 10 minutes before his practice started, c/o of left neck pain and tightness that resulted in his inability to look left. He stated that he started noticing tightness and pain that gradually becoming worse in the afternoon. Any other symptom was stated. It was in-season and was a day before his playoff game and he was needed in practice because he was one of better players on the team.

- At resting with seated, his neck was rotated and side bended to right a little bit.

- Active left cervical rotation was limited and was about 15deg with pain in the left side. Full right rotation.

- Active left side bending was also limited and was about 10 deg with pain in the left side. Full side bending.

- Palpable tightness over left cervical extensors, upper trap and levetor scapula compared to right. He c/o pain with palpation of these muscles.

- MMT to cervical flexion, extension, right rotation and right side bending were 5/5 without pain. Left cervical rotation and left side bending were 3/5 due to pain.

- No history of a car accident, head or neck injury, or shoulder pathology. No history of medical conditions or surgery that should be noted. No signs and symptoms other than tightness, pain, and limited ROM of the c-spine.

Course of Treatment

Day 1, after a quick evaluation, he had to go to the practice so I only had 10 minutes to treat him. I began with MET isometric reciprocal inhibition on left rotation and side bending. I didn't target specific muscle but general motions. I had him to rotate and side bend to the right from neutral to gain motions on the left side by inhibiting these tight musculature. There was not much improvement but he had to go to the practice.

15mins later, the player came back to me because he could not play due to pain. So, now I had a little bit more time to treat the athlete. I had him lay supine and checked his passive ROM. Passive left cervical rotation and side bending caused pain as did active, displaying limited ROM.

I used SCS on his left upper trap and levator scapulae because I suspected muscle spindle hyperactivity.  After resetting the mechanoreceptors, he had increased left cervical rotation and side bending.

After finding the most tender spot, I kept a pressure and started counting time. Then I slowly increased left rotation. Once he feels no tenderness under my finger, I stayed there for about 20-30sec and then increased a little further and repeated. At the same time, I added some side bending a little by little to gain the ROM.

After one session of this technique, his active left rotation was about 80% of his right rotation and side bending was about 30% of his right side bending. (active left cervical rotation about 75deg and side bend about 25deg).

Then, I performed a 1st rib MET on the left for one set of five isometric contractions to inhibit his left scalenes and to regain the function of left side bending.

Fortunately, I had a sample of Rocktape from Adam, so I put the player’s neck into flexion, right rotation and right side bending to place his left neck muscles on stretch then applied two strips of Rocktape.

One strip was applied from the occiput to about T3 level and the other strip was applied from the mastoid process to scapular spine. My intension to use Rocktape was to inhibit the hyperactive or hypertonic muscles. I had some personal experience of inhibiting hypertonic muscle with Rocktape previously.

After those interventions during 15 mins of treatment, he was still limited to left sidebending with pain, but was able to complete the practice with the team. He ended up keeping the Rocktape on for the next four days.

Day 2, the day of the playoff game, he returned with full left cervical rotation without pain and improvement on left side bending, which was 80% of right side with minor pain. On that day, I used MET for left 1st rib, upper trap, and levator scapulae with isometric autogenic inhibition. He played the game without any complaint, and we won the game.

Day 3 and 4, he had no limitation on both left rotation and side bending and no pain. On that day, I used MET for 1st rib only. No deficit with RROM for flexion, extension, both rotation, and both sidebending. He completed a practice without any complaint.

Day 5, he had returned to play without treatment. He completed a practice without any complaint.

Day 6, he had no complaint from day 5.  He played the playoff game without limitation or complaint. We won the game.

Conclusion and Discussion

In conclusion, Rocktape and manual therapy were a lifesaver for this athlete, his team, and me. Without them, I think he would continue to suffer from his tight and painful neck muscles, which could have affected the dynamics of our entire team and lost their first playoff game. Also, I was satisfied with the immediate improvement of cervical motions, especially rotation, with SCS technique. I wonder how an outcome would have been if I did not know SCS technique and just provided a very traditional intervention, such as heat modality and stretch. I need to thank my undergraduate program and faculty, which brought a SCS technique expert from University of Oregon for us to learn.

Further, I think the tape maintained immediate effects of the SCS and MET techniques and even more so enhanced inhibition of those hypertonic muscles that caused pain. Overall, I was happy that he responded so quickly and positively to the intervention thus allowing him to return to play very quickly.

References

1. Crowner BE. Cervical dystonia: Disease profile and clinical management. Phys Ther. 2007;87(11):1511-1526.

2. Patel S, Martino D. Cervical dystonia: From pathophysiology to pharmacotherapy. Behavioural Neurology. 2013;26(4):275-282.

3. Dool JVD, Visser B, Koelman JH, Engelbert RHH, Tijssen MAJ. Cervical dystonia: Effectiveness of a standardized physical therapy program; study design and protocol of a single blind randomized controlled trial. BMC Neurology. 2013;13(1):1-8.

4. Pelosin E, Avanzino L, Marchese R, et al. KinesioTaping reduces pain and modulates sensory function in patients with focal dystonia: A randomized crossover pilot study. Neurorehabilitation & Neural Repair. 2013;27(8):722.

5. Godse P, Sharma S, Palekar TJ. Effect of strain-counterstrain technique on upper trapezius trigger points. Indian Journal of Physiotherapy & Occupational Therapy. 2012;6(4):77.

6. Iqbal A, Ahmed H, Shaphe A. Efficacy of muscle energy technique in combination with strain-counterstrain technique on deactivation of trigger point pain. Indian Journal of Physiotherapy and Occupational Therapy - An International Journal. 2013(3):118.

Categories: kinesio tape, kinesiology tape, manual therapy, PRI, Rock Tape, rocktape, taking acute torticollis, taking for neck pain and spasm, torticollis manual therapy