Torticollis and serendipity.

Spasmodic torticollis is often a severely disabling disorder which can be extremely resistant to any form of treatment including newer methods employing electromyographic biofeedback. This case study describes the diagnostic and treatment methods utilized with a 63-year-old woman with a 6-month history of spasmodic torticollis. Several treatment approaches were attempted, including biofeedback, relaxation training, and a combination fading desensitization approach. All corrective measures were unsuccessful until serendipitous circumstances suggested a treatment employing both a particular movement pattern that relieved the problem in the total behavior chain associated with spasmodic torticollis.