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CC BY 4.0 · Arq Neuropsiquiatr 2024; 82(07): s00441786764
DOI: 10.1055/s-0044-1786764
Historical Notes

François Rabelais and his dystonic giants

François Rabelais e seus gigantes distônicos
Léo Coutinho 
1   Hospital de Clínicas, Departamento de Medicina Interna, Programa de Pós-Graduação em Medicina Interna, Curitiba PR, Brazil.
,
Carlos Henrique Ferreira Camargo 
1   Hospital de Clínicas, Departamento de Medicina Interna, Programa de Pós-Graduação em Medicina Interna, Curitiba PR, Brazil.
,
Hélio Afonso Ghizoni Teive 
1   Hospital de Clínicas, Departamento de Medicina Interna, Programa de Pós-Graduação em Medicina Interna, Curitiba PR, Brazil.
2   Hospital de Clínicas, Departamento de Medicina Interna, Serviço de Neurologia, Unidade de Distúrbios de Movimento, Curitiba PR, Brazil.
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Abstract

Spasmodic torticollis was an early designation used for cervical dystonia. The origin of this name is attributed to French physician and writer François Rabelais in the mid-sixteenth century. This early description of torticollis in the book Pantagruel was an inspiration for the understanding of cervical dystonia. The art expressed in Rabelais' literature ‒ which was immortalized by the drawings of Gustave Doré ‒ influenced poetry, art, and photography, and led to the adoption of the term torticollis in the neurological sciences.

Resumo

Uma designação inicial usada para distonia cervical era torcicolo espasmódico. A origem desse termo é atribuída ao médico e escritor francês François Rabelais em meados do século XVI. Essa descrição inicial do torcicolo no livro Pantagruel foi uma inspiração para a compreensão da distonia cervical. A arte exibida na literatura de Rabelais ‒ imortalizada pelos desenhos de Gustave Doré ‒ influenciou a poesia, a arte e a fotografia, e levou à adoção do termo torcicolo nas ciências neurológicas.

Keywords

History of Medicine - Neurology - Movement Disorders - Dystonia - Torticollis

Palavras-chave

História da Medicina - Neurologia - Transtornos dos Movimentos - Distonia - Torcicolo

Editor in Chief

Ayrton Roberto Massaro


Associate Editor

Ethel Cuperschmid.


Authors' Contributions

LC: conceptualization, investigation, data curation, and writing of the original draft. CHFC: investigation, data curation, and writing – review and editing. HAGT: supervision and writing – review and editing.




Publication History

Received: 15 January 2024

Accepted: 25 February 2024

Article published online:
13 May 2024

© 2024. The Author(s). This is an open access article published by Thieme under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, permitting copying and reproduction so long as the original work is given appropriate credit (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)

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Bibliographical Record
Léo Coutinho, Carlos Henrique Ferreira Camargo, Hélio Afonso Ghizoni Teive. François Rabelais and his dystonic giants. Arq Neuropsiquiatr 2024; 82: s00441786764.
DOI: 10.1055/s-0044-1786764
 

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