Dystonia refers to an involuntary, repetitive, sustained, painful and twisting movements of the affected body part. This movement disorder was first described in 1911 by Hermain Oppenheim, and many studies have been conducted to understand the mechanism, the diagnosis and the treatment of dystonia ever since. However, there are still many unexplained aspects of this phenomenon. Dystonia is diagnosed by clinical manifestations, and various classifications are recommended for the diagnosis and the treatment. Anatomic classification, which is based on the muscle groups involved, is the most helpful classification model to plan the course of the treatment. Dystonias can also be classified based on the age of onset and the cause. These dystonic syndromes can be present without an identified etiology or they can be clinical manifestations of a neurodegenerative or neurometabolic disease. In this review we summarized the differential diagnosis, definition, classifications, possible mechanisms and treatment choices of dystonia.
