Types Of Tic

What is a 'simple motor tic'?

Common simple motor tics would be repetitive eye blinking, repetitive head jerking, a twitch of a limb for example. A flick of the fingers repetitively. Just a very simple quick movement.

What is a 'complex motor tic'?

Complex motor tics may actually look like normal activity, people can integrate them into their normal activity. Putting their hand through their hair for example, or adjusting their clothing repetively would be another example of a complex motor tic. It can be strange also in some unusual cases, it can be disrobing, taking clothing off, or showing certain body parts repetitively. A complex motor tic might be an obscene gesture for example, which is going to be socially unacceptable and could get people into trouble if it's not recognized for being the problem that it is. If a child were making offensive, obscene gestures repetitively, then it's going to cause difficulty if it's not being recognized as a tic. Even if it is recognized as a tic, it's going to cause that person difficulty. If people have a complex tic of taking their clothes off, which is unusual but has been reported, it's going to be problematic for that person obviously.

What are some examples of vocal tic?

Examples of vocal Tic would be sniffing, throat clearing, uttering of fragments of words, sometimes full words. Capillaries is the uttering of obscenities which is also a form of vocal tics and I would like to emphasize that's an uncommon manifestation of Tourette Syndrome even though it's gotten a lot of attention in the past. It's not the majority of people with Tourette's who have that.

What are examples of a complex vocal tic?

Complex vocal tic's could be, instead of a fragment of a word, there could be a sentence, and it could be speaking a fragment or an entire sentence, rather than just uttering a sound or throat clearing.

Are motor and vocal tic triggered by different stimuli?

Tics whether there vocal or motor would be more commonly evident when people are under stress under emotional stress or duress of some type. Also when people are fatigued tics maybe more likely to emerge.

How are simple tics different than complex tics?

Simple Tics are, as the name implies, just very predictable movements that just involve a localized part of the body, the eyes, the eyelids, the tongue, the mouth, the head, for example. Versus a complex motor Tic, which would be, as the name suggests, utilizing more muscles, more movement. An example of a complex tic might be taking one's hat off. For example repetition of a movement that does engage more muscles, more parts of the body.

What is a 'dystonic' tic?

Tics are generally thought of as being quick, repetitive movements but some tics are slower in terms of their appearance. It could be a sustained, slow muscle contraction and those are called dystonic tics. If somebody were to have a sustained contraction of their abdominal muscles or their buttocks or their limb, for example, that's in a prolonged posture, that we would call a dystonic tic.

What is an example of a dystonic tic?

One of my patients who had Dystonic Tic has repetitive consistent head turning which could be construed as an entirely different movement called cervical dystonia. He will turn his head and look off into the corner of a room, repetitively, in a sustained fashion. I would call that head-turning movement a Dystonic Tic.