A motor control model of task-specific dystonia and its rehabilitation

Abstract

Task-specific dystonia is a painless deficit of motor control specific to a particular motor skill. In this article we present a motor control model which integrates risk factors for the disorder with the neuroscientific literature of skill learning in health. We particularly focus on the idea that the amount and type of movement variability is critical and show how retraining therapies such as Differential Learning which reintroduces variability into practice can restore motor performance.

Keywords: Differential Learning; Model; Motor control; Rehabilitation; Sensory Motor Retuning; Task-specific dystonia.