Movement disorders are classed under the wider disabling category of neurological disease. People with writer’s cramp may be unaware that financial support for the neurological movement disorder is available through Personal Independence Payment (PIP). While the number of claimants for hand dystopia is very small - just five across Great Britain - this may be due to a lack of awareness about help available.
Writer’s cramp is a specific type of focal dystonia that affects your fingers, hand, or forearm which impacts writing, causing it to become painful and written work less legible. Dystonic writer’s cramp is much rarer and causes involuntary movements or muscle cramps when people are not writing and doing everyday tasks such as using a knife and fork or applying make-up. Focal dystonia of the hands is a neurological movement disorder where the brain sends incorrect information to the muscles, causing involuntary, excessive muscle contractions .
These signals can also make your hands twist into odd postures. Anyone can get a task-specific dystonia like writer’s cramp and symptoms usually appear between the ages of 30 and 50. Task-specific dystonias - particularly musician’s cramp - are more common in men.
If you or a family member have writer’s cramp, or musician’s cramp, you could be eligible for PIP or Adult Disability Payment (ADP). The latest figures from the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) show that at the end of April there were more than 465,000 pe.