Sensitive areas of tight muscle fibers can form in your muscles after injuries or overuse. These sensitive areas are called trigger points. A trigger point in a muscle can cause strain and pain throughout the muscle. When this pain persists and worsens, doctors call it myofascial pain syndrome.
Stiff-person syndrome (SPS) is a rare, progressive neurological disorder. Symptoms may include: Stiff muscles in the trunk (torso), arms, and legs. Greater sensitivity to noise, touch, and emotional distress, which can set off muscle spasms.
Muscle stiffness often arises after changing exercise routines, overusing muscles, or being physically inactive for long periods of time. Otherwise, muscle stiffness can be caused by an underlying condition, including myopathy, neuromuscular disorders, and neurologic disorders.
Myositis (my-o-SY-tis) is a rare type of autoimmune disease that inflames and weakens muscle fibers. Autoimmune diseases occur when the body's own immune system attacks itself. In the case of myositis, the immune system attacks healthy muscle tissue, which results in inflammation, swelling, pain, and eventual weakness.
Fibromyalgia can make you feel stiff. The stiffness may be most severe when you have been in the same position for a long period of time – for example, when you first wake up in the morning.
Less often, lupus can cause myositis, or inflammation in the muscles — usually in the hips, thighs, shoulders, and upper arms. The most common symptom of myositis is muscle weakness. When you have lupus myositis, it can be hard to do things like stand up out of a chair or raise your arms.
Any treatment that only addresses the muscles will not give long-term or lasting relief from spasms. If you have been treated for muscle tightness or spasms without lasting relief it is time to seek an evaluation for joint instability and potential treatment plan from a Prolotherapy specialist.
Muscle tension is when your muscles stay partially contracted for a period of time, at first causing them to feel stiff and achy, and eventually leading to chronic pain. Muscle tension can be caused by stress, physical activity, or repetitive motion in daily life.
Disease Overview
Stiff person syndrome (SPS) is a rare acquired neurological disorder that most often causes progressive muscle stiffness (rigidity) and repeated episodes of painful muscle spasms.
Disease definition. A rare, genetic, skeletal muscle channelopathy characterized by slow muscle relaxation after contraction (myotonia).
Myotonia congenita is a disorder that affects muscles used for movement (skeletal muscles). Beginning in childhood, people with this condition experience bouts of sustained muscle tensing (myotonia) that prevent muscles from relaxing normally.
The symptoms can be similar, but people with fibromyalgia are more likely to experience depression, irritable bowel syndrome, and widespread, persistent pain. Symptoms more common with MS include weakness, vision problems, muscle spasms, and bowel or bladder issues.
"But, if you have localized pain that is sharp, limits your mobility, changes your gait, affects your range of motion or is accompanied by significant weakness, it could be a sign of a serious injury that needs treatment."
Physical therapy to strengthen, stretch and relax your muscles. Dry needling (pushing thin needles into the trigger point to decrease tightness, increase blood flow and relieve pain). Trigger point injections (using a needle to inject lidocaine, or another anesthetic, into the trigger point to relieve pain).
There are a number of ways to reduce physical tension. These include meditation, exercise, tai chi, massage, visualisation, yoga, progressive muscle relaxation, and slow breathing techniques. To reduce our stress it is important that we practice relaxation techniques on a daily basis.
“This is one of the rare circumstances where the more it hurts, the more you need to do it,” says Biggart, noting that frequency—not intensity—is key. “Roll your tight muscles a minimum of once a day for 10 days to two weeks, or until you feel relief,” says Biggart. “Two to three times a day is even better.
Spasticity is a symptom of multiple sclerosis that causes your muscles to feel stiff, heavy and difficult to move. A spasm is a sudden stiffening of a muscle which may cause a limb to kick out or jerk towards your body.
Signs and Symptoms of Myositis
The hallmark feature of myositis is muscle weakness with an onset that is often insidious. Patients complain of 'proximal' weakness with difficulty holding their arms above their head or getting up from a chair or walking up steps.
Multiple Sclerosis
Some people with MS can lose their ability to walk or see, others can go into remission for long periods of time. On the surface, some of the symptoms of MS and those of fibromyalgia are similar: brain fog, fatigue, insomnia, and pain.