Contents:
- Medical Video: Post Stroke Muscle Spasms = Good?
- What is muscle tension or spasticity?
- What is spasticity like?
- What can be done to deal with spasticity?
- Are there recent studies about recovery of spasticity or muscle tension?
- How do I survive if I experience spasticity?
- What do you need to remember?
Medical Video: Post Stroke Muscle Spasms = Good?
Tense muscles spastic alias is one complication that often occurs after a stroke. Usually, muscle tension occurs for months or even a year after a stroke, and will appear more and more with recovery. Tense muscles are indeed quite difficult and an unpleasant problem for stroke patients, but there are several solutions to control them.
What is muscle tension or spasticity?
Muscles that feel stiff, tense, immovable and inflexible are known as muscle tension or spasticity.
After a stroke, arms, legs or even the face will experience paralysis. This paralysis occurs because stroke sufferers are not able to control their muscle movements. However, often after a stroke, weakness in the muscles actually occurs in a stiff or tense position and makes the sufferer uncomfortable.
There are times when sufferers can still move their muscles if the level of spasticity is mild, but the resulting movement is even ragged and unnatural. When observed, it appears that the muscle is in an unusual position or is bent at rest.
What is spasticity like?
Often times, stiffness and weakness in the muscles make people feel they are moving very slowly or like carrying a heavy burden on their muscles. Sometimes, the muscles will hurt when they are resting or if they are moved. For example, if someone experiences spasticity in his arm, chances are he will feel muscle tension in the arm or surrounding area, including the neck or back. Usually, patients will not be able to immediately feel the pain due to muscle strain after a stroke, but the muscles in the surrounding area will feel sore after months of muscle tension.
What can be done to deal with spasticity?
Always make sure you exercise regularly to prevent recurrence of tension in the muscles. Sometimes, the patient may need help from other people to move. Physical therapy and regular exercise done at home can help reduce muscle tension or spasticity.
Many sufferers of spasticity complain of difficult physical therapy and make it uncomfortable at an early stage, but over time, this therapy has been shown to be able to flex stiff muscles.
Prescription drugs that relax muscle tension can help when therapy and exercise do not adequately relieve spasticity. Some people cannot use muscle relaxants due to the appearance of side effects, such as fatigue and dizziness.
Another treatment option to relieve spasticity is a muscle relaxant injection or botulinum toxin. These injections can work in some people, but not all, and often this type of treatment must be repeated at regulated intervals because the effects produced by the drug will disappear after a while.
Are there recent studies about recovery of spasticity or muscle tension?
Scientific research studies have proven that in reality spasticity can be cured. Overall it appears that along with the recovery of spasticity, there is evidence that shows activity in the part of the brain affected by a stroke also begins to recover. Thus, training the muscles affected by spasticity is one of the many ways to help brain tissue recover after a stroke.
How do I survive if I experience spasticity?
Spasticity does make sufferers uncomfortable and sometimes painful. If you experience symptoms that lead to spasticity, please note that there is a solution and you don't need to worry.
Even more important, if you let spasticity not be treated for a long time, the stiff muscles will become stiffer. Over time, this will make it harder for you to move, cause disability and a cycle that complicates stroke recovery.
What do you need to remember?
If you feel muscle tension or spasticity, talk to your doctor or physical therapist to get the right treatment for your symptoms of spasticity. Usually, medical treatment or physical therapy is not enough to give maximum results, so it requires continuous therapy.
