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Spasticity

• Overview
• Treatment

Alternative Names:

Muscle stiffness

Home Care:

Exercise, including muscle stretching, can help make your symptoms less severe.

Call your health care provider if:

Contact your health care provider if:

• The spasticity worsens
• Contracture deformities appear to be developing
• Your condition gets worse

What to expect at your health care provider's office:

Your doctor will perform a physical exam and ask questions about your symptoms, including:

• When was it first noticed?
• How long has it lasted?
• Is it always present?
• How severe is it?
• What muscles are affected?
• What makes it better?
• What makes it worse?
• What other symptoms are also present?

Your doctor may refer you to a physical therapist. Physical therapy consists of variety of exercises, including muscle stretching and strengthening exercises. Physical therapy exercises can be taught to parents who may then help their child perform them at home.

Medicines for spasticity include baclofen, tizanidine, cyclobenzaprine, and benzodiazepines. In rare cases, a pump may be inserted into the spinal fluid to directly deliver medicine to the nervous system.

Botox injections may help relieve spasticity symptoms in some patients.

Sometimes, a person may need surgery to release the tendon or to cut the the nerve-muscle pathway.

References:

Goetz, CG. Textbook of Clinical Neurology . 2nd ed. St. Louis, Mo: WB Saunders; 2003: 236, 247, 254.

Goldman L, Ausiello D. Cecil Textbook of Medicine . 22nd ed. Philadelphia, Pa: WB Saunders; 2004:2324.

• Review Date: 3/5/2007
• Reviewed By: Daniel Kantor, M.D., Director of the Comprehensive MS Center, Neuroscience Institute, University of Florida Health Science Center, Jacksonville, FL. Review provided by VeriMed Healthcare Network.

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