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.
Get medical care right away or go to the emergency room if you have muscle pain with: Trouble breathing or dizziness. Extreme muscle weakness with problems doing routine daily activities. A high fever and stiff neck.
Myasthenia gravis. Myopathy. Myositis, including polymyositis and dermatomyositis.
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.
The main symptoms are weak, painful or aching muscles. This usually gets worse, slowly over time. You may also trip or fall a lot, and be very tired after walking or standing. If you have any of these symptoms you should see a GP.
During flare-ups, muscles become tight, or spasms may occur. Many affected people do not sleep well and feel anxious, and sometimes depressed or tense. Fatigue is common, as are mental problems such as difficulty concentrating and a general feeling of mental cloudiness.
Myotonia is a neuromuscular condition in which the relaxation of a muscle is impaired. It can affect any muscle group. Repeated effort generally is needed to relax the muscle, although the condition usually improves after the muscles have warmed-up.
Myotonia is a rare condition where your muscles aren't able to relax after they contract. For example, you might not be able to let go of someone's hand after you shake it, or you may have trouble standing up. This disorder can affect other organs throughout your body.
Many people described the pain of lupus as similar to having the flu. This means having chills and bone-weary aches throughout your entire body. The pain can be numbing and leave you feeling drained of all energy. “I explain it to others as feeling like the flu: achy joints, muscles, bones.”
Sedimentation Rate (also called erythrocyte sedimentation rate [ESR] or sed rate) measures swelling and inflammation of the muscles. Doctors use the sed rate to watch the progress of the muscle inflammation.
Without movement or exercise, the muscles are weakened and deprived of a steady supply of blood, oxygen and nutrients. This, in turn, can lead to muscle pain.
Magnesium is essential for proper muscle function and acts to relieve tight, sore and cramped muscles. It controls muscle contraction and acts as a muscle relaxant.
Spasticity is stiff or rigid muscles. It may also be called unusual tightness or increased muscle tone. Reflexes (for example, a knee-jerk reflex) are stronger or exaggerated. The condition can interfere with walking, movement, speech, and many other activities of daily living.
Fibromyalgia Syndrome (FMS) is a chronic condition causing pain, stiffness, and tenderness of the muscles, tendons, and joints. It is also characterized by restless sleep, tiredness, fatigue, anxiety, depression, and disturbances in bowel functions.
Body aches can result from tiredness or exercise and commonly occur with infections such as the flu. But, they can also be a symptom of an underlying condition, such as fibromylagia, arthritis, or lupus.
A CK test is most often used to diagnose and monitor muscular injuries and diseases.
Fibromyalgia is diagnosed based primarily on having pain all over the body, along with other symptoms. Currently, there are no specific laboratory or imaging tests for fibromyalgia.
Several rheumatic diseases can mimic fibromyalgia. These include sero-negative rheumatoid arthritis, ankylosing spondylitis, Lyme disease, polymyalgia rheumatica and lupus. They have symptoms of widespread pain along with joint involvement. Most rheumatic diseases are treated with medication and physical therapy.