My toes began scudding under my right foot, not clearing the ground as I walked. I started tripping. I had to forego a lifelong love of running, my right leg pulling strangely toward the ground. Soon, I sported an all-the-time painless, right-legged limp.

I was sure it was worst things: ALS. MS. Parkinson’s. Brain tumor. Stroke. These were what medical providers were thinking too (and sometimes saying out loud) as I visited specialist after specialist to figure out what was wrong. (I wrote about that here.)

Turns out, I have runner’s, or focal, dystonia. An obscure disorder most medical providers—including nearly all sports medicine, orthopedic, and neurological specialists I saw—have never heard of. But it’s a thing. A thing people get from doing repetitive........

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