Tics

Motor tics can be simple or complex. The simple ones are limited to movements in which a concrete muscular group participates (ex blink, elevation of eyebrows or shoulders, cephalic turn.. ).  They can appear in several parts of the body, although they predominate in the face, neck and shoulders.  The complex motor tics are caused by the successive and continuous contraction of several different muscular groups giving rise to more complex movements like contractions of the abdomen or shakes and torsions of the neck and shoulders.

The vocal tics consist of emission of sounds, syllables or words of repetitive form, without a communicative aim and generally, they appear associated with motor tics. The most characteristic ones are carraspeo, shouts or other guttural sounds and air suction by the nose.

Often motor and vocal tics are preceded by sensitive tics consisting of unpleasant sensations such as itching, tingling or pressure.

The tics, unlike other disorders of the movement, can be inhibited during a brief period of time.

In general, they increase in intensity in situations of anxiety and fatigue and diminish when making other acts that require concentration (to read, to play a musical instrument). They usually appear during childhood and are often transitory. In the cases in which they persist, usually they are exacerbated in the adolescence and tend to improve or to stabilize in the adult age.

In the syndrome of Gilles de la Tourette, simple as much complex motor tics with vocal tics are combined that include ecolalia (to repeat what they hear), coprolalia (to say "tacos" or obscenities) or to make obscene gestures. Behavioral disorders can also appear, like the deficit of attention-hyperactivity and obsessive-compulsive disorder.