Purpose of review: The purpose of this review is to summarize recent progress toward providing a consistent, sensitive, specific, and useful definition of dystonia as it presents in childhood.
Recent findings: An NIH-funded consensus group published a definition of childhood dystonia in January of 2003. Recent work has attempted to identify quantitative methods for diagnosis and measurement of childhood dystonia. Techniques include biomechanical, kinematic, and surface EMG measurements that show promise for providing specific and sensitive measures of childhood dystonia.
Summary: The results of current research efforts will be useful for verifying and modifying definitions of dystonia to provide consistent and measurable terms for including children in research trials and selecting appropriate interventions for clinical treatment.