A Look inside Tourette's Syndrome

In 1885 French neurologist, Dr. Georges Gilles de la Tourette discovered Tourette’s syndrome, commonly abbreviated as TS. Tourette’s syndrome is a neurological disorder that is signified as presenting repetitive stereotyped, involuntary movements and vocalizations called tics (National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke [NIH], 2012). TS is three to four times more common in males than in females, but can occur in people of all types of ethnic, racial, culture and social groups (National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke [NIH], 2012). Symptoms of the condition are typically noticed in early childhood, between the ages of three to nine. People diagnosed with TS usually experience their worst tic symptoms in their teens, with the biggest improvement seen throughout childhood (National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke [NIH], 2012).

Tourette’s syndrome is characterized by both a motor and/or one or more phonic tics (Robertson, 2000). Initial symptoms of Tourette’s begins with motor tics followed by the onset of phonic tics at a later age (National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke [NIH], 2012). Tics can be categorized as either simple or complex. Simple motor tics include eye blinking, facial grimacing, shoulder shrugging, head or shoulder jerking. Simple phonic tics include repetitive throat clearing, sniffing or grunting sounds (Robertson, 2000).Complex motor tics involve a wider range of group muscles and are usually coordinated patterns of movement comprising of touching, licking, spitting, jumping and squatting. Some motor tics can become self-injurious, as a result of punching oneself or head banging (Robertson et al., 2000). A study done at University College and Middlese...

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