Botox relieves writer's cramp

The anti-wrinkle treatment Botox also helps to relieve stubborn cases of writer's cramp. Writer's cramp is a form of dystonia, in which involuntary muscle contractions force a particular part of the body into an abnormal posture or movement. For people with writer's cramp, the abnormal contractions affect the hand and arm during writing - though in some cases similar tasks, such as using utensils or shaving, can also cause problems. There are various treatments for the condition like physical therapy, acupuncture, writing re-education etc. But they provide only limited relief. Writer's cramp can be very disabling and patients often feel embarrassment. Some patients even lose their jobs because they cannot write anymore. The wrinkle-fighter botulinum toxin A, best known by the brand-name Botox, has been used to treat other forms of dystonia, such as chronic spasms of the eye muscles. The toxin helps by interfering with the chemical messages that trigger muscle contractions. Researchers from the University of Amsterdam randomly assigned 40 patients to be injected in the affected muscles of the wrist and hand with either botulinum toxin or a simple saline solution, inorder to find whether the therapy aids writer's cramp. The patients were given a second injection one month later, unless they were satisfied with their recovery after the first. However, after three months, 70 percent of patients treated with botulinum toxin said their condition had improved and that they wanted to continue treatment versus less than one-third of those given the saline injections. Though botulinum toxin helped many of the study patients, the treatment does have downsides. It's not a permanent fix, so the injections must be repeated over time, and side effects include weakness in the treated muscle. Most patients who received the therapy reported some hand weakness, though it was usually mild and temporary.