The following is a summary of “Effectiveness of physiotherapy for patients with isolated cervical dystonia: an updated systematic review and meta-analysis,” published in the February 2024 issue of Neurology by Kassaye et al.

Recent clinical trials investigate the potential of physiotherapy (PT) to benefit patients with cervical dystonia, a movement disorder characterized by involuntary muscle contractions.

Researchers conducted a retrospective study to re-evaluate physiotherapy’s effectiveness on cervical dystonia outcomes, followed by a meta-analysis to solidify the findings.

They included interventional studies in English involving adult patients with isolated cervical dystonia who underwent a physiotherapy program. PubMed (MEDLINE), Web of Science, and Scopus were searched for relevant articles. Cochrane and Joanna Briggs Institute risk of bias checklists were utilized to ensure quality reporting. Meta-analysis performed with Review Manager 5.3 presented a pooled mean difference for pain.

The results showed 14  articles, with two incorporated into the meta-analysis. The meta-analysis unveiled a significant impact of PT intervention on the pain reduction scale (-5.00, 95% CI -6.26, -3.74) when employed as an additional therapy with botulinum toxin (BoNT) injection—additionally, a potential beneficial effect of PT on disease severity, disability, and QoL.

Investigators concluded that combining BoNT with physiotherapy showed promise in reducing pain and potentially improving overall outcomes for cervical dystonia, but the optimal PT approach needs further research.

Source: bmcneurol.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12883-023-03473-3