The Global Dystonia Registry compliments the work of the Dystonia Coalition, a clinical research effort supported by the National Institutes of Health.

The goal of the Global Dystonia Registry is to support future dystonia studies, including clinical and research trials. Although the focal dystonia's have many different manifestations, most experts believe they share a common pathogenesis or mechanism that causes the disorder.

The common causes may be a similar gene defect, similar lifetime experiences, or both. Collecting information from different patient populations may help us identify the common features that they may share.