Spasticity is a common symptom in MS. It is a tightness or stiffness of the muscles – occurring typically in the legs (calf or thigh), groin, and buttocks. Although less common, some individuals may experience spasticity in their back. These are all muscles that help people to stand and balance in an upright position.
Many people with multiple sclerosis have stiff muscles and spasms, a condition called spasticity. It happens mostly in the muscles of the legs and arms, and it may keep you from moving your limbs freely.
It is one of the more common symptoms of MS. Spasticity may be as mild as the feeling of tightness of muscles or may be so severe as to produce painful, uncontrollable spasms of extremities, usually of the legs. Spasticity may also produce feelings of pain or tightness in and around joints, and can cause low back pain.
Muscle stiffness and spasms are common MS symptoms, and are often described as 'MS spasticity'. Muscle spasms or stiffness can affect between 40% and 80% of people with MS at some time.
Muscle spasms are typically brief whereas spasticity lasts longer. Muscle spasticity is usually due to a neurologic condition but muscle spasms often occur in people with no known neurologic condition.
Spasticity can involve the following: Increased muscle tone (hypertonia). Muscle spasms (quick and/or sustained involuntary muscle contractions). Clonus (series of fast involuntary muscle contractions that may feel like a tremor, most often experienced in your ankles).
The NICE guideline for MS recommends that baclofen should be the first drug used when treating MS spasticity (muscle stiffness). Baclofen is also sometimes used in combination with other medication to treat trigeminal neuralgia. It can help to relax the muscles and ease the pain.
Muscle spasms, stiffness and weakness
MS can cause your muscles to: contract tightly and painfully (spasm) become stiff and resistant to movement (spasticity) feel weak.
What Does MS Feels Like? A lack of feeling or a pins-and-needles sensation can be the first sign of nerve damage from MS. It usually happens in your face, arms, or legs, and on one side of your body. It tends to go away on its own.
Neuropathic pain happens from “short circuiting” of the nerves that carry signals from the brain to the body because of damage from MS. These pain sensations feel like burning, stabbing, sharp and squeezing sensations.
The MS hug commonly feels like squeezing and pain in the chest, or like a muscle spasm under the rib cage. Because these sensations are often also reported as symptoms of a heart attack, some MS patients say the MS hug can feel like having a heart attack.
Tizanidine (Zanaflex)
A muscle relaxant can reduce stiffness and spasms and may be particularly useful to treat painful night-time spasms. Because its effects last for only 3-6 hours, it can be best used around specific times when relief from symptoms is most important, for example at bedtime.
You should see a doctor for muscle spasms if you encounter any of the following situations: Any muscle spasms that are occurring regularly. Muscle spasms that are not resolving on their own with rest, hydration, and proper nutrition. Any pain or injury that you have as a result of a muscle spasm, especially back spasms.
Back and neck pain are not unusual MS symptoms. In fact, an estimated 10 percent to 16 percent of individuals with MS experience back pain, and certain sensations in the neck, such as Lhermitte's sign, can help to diagnose MS.
“MS pain that commonly interferes with sleep is neuropathic pain — often described as burning, shooting, searing, or deeply aching. This pain can be relentless and is often worse at night.” Musculoskeletal pain can occur from a compensatory gait pattern (due to leg weakness or foot drop).
“MS may lead to a loss of sensation in whatever area of the body corresponds with the damaged area of the brain or spinal cord,” Dr. Scherz says. This can cause numbness or a tingling sensation—for instance, in the fingers or toes. The feeling usually comes and goes, and can be mild or severe.
MS can appear at any age but most commonly manifests between the ages of 20 and 40. It affects women two to three times as often as men. Almost one million people in the United States have MS, making it one of the most common causes of neurological disability among young adults in North America.
You might get a shocking, burning, squeezing, stabbing, cold, or prickly feeling out of nowhere. Some people call them zingers or stingers. These zaps usually last only seconds or minutes. They often affect your legs, feet, arms, and hands.
Yes, MS can cause nausea in a number of different ways: MS dizziness and vertigo is likely to make you feel nauseous. Many people with MS experience symptoms related to digestion, including dyspepsia, which causes an uncomfortable feeling of fullness and bloating along with pain.
Difficulty thinking. Fatigue. Pain, which may be acute or chronic, caused by the nerves that carry sensation "short circuiting." Types of pain can include band-like pain around the chest, or MS hug, caused by spastic nerves along with other types of painful sensations in the neck, arms, legs and feet. Sexual problems.
Because of the robustness of the evidence, most experts consider interferon beta as first-choice treatment in patients with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis. Many issues related to treatment beta however, remain unresolved (box).
What causes muscle spasms? Muscle spasms can occur due to several causes, including a lack of nutrients, muscular tension, overuse of the muscle, increased demand of blood flow, or various underlying medical conditions.
Intrathecal phenol is a nerve blocker that has been used for more than 60 years to treat severe muscle stiffness. It is recommended for people with MS who have failed to respond to all oral medications and other treatments.