A total of 26 patients with torticollis were studied using a recently developed technique for recording vestibulocollic reflexes from the sternocleidomastoid muscles in addition to conventional caloric tests of vestibular function. Previous reports of abnormalities of vestibulo-ocular reflexes in these patients were confirmed with just fewer than half having significant canal pareses or directional preponderances (nine of 20 tested). In addition, there was a high incidence of abnormal click-evoked vestibulocollic reflexes (17 of 26 tested), which were not simply the result of prior treatment with botulinum toxin, nor due to unequal levels of muscle activation. In patients never previously treated with botulinum toxin (14 patients), the effect almost always consisted of suppressed responses in the sternocleidomastoid muscle ipsilateral to the direction of head turning. Because responses were not abnormal in all patients tested, and more commonly so in those with a history of torticollis of > or = 5 years (eight of nine patients) than in de novo patients, we suggest that the changes are more likely to be compensatory than causal.