A spasmodic muscle contraction may be caused by many medical conditions, including dystonia. Most commonly, it is a muscle cramp which is accompanied by a sudden burst of pain. A muscle cramp is usually harmless and ceases after a few minutes. It is typically caused by ion imbalance or muscle overload.
There are other causes of involuntary muscle contractions, and some of these may cause a health problem.
A series of spasms, or permanent spasms, is referred to as a "spasmism".
Various kinds of involuntary muscle activity may be referred to as a "spasm".
A spasm may be a muscle contraction caused by abnormal nerve stimulation or by abnormal activity of the muscle itself.
A spasm may lead to muscle strains or tears in tendons and ligaments if the force of the spasm exceeds the tensile strength of the underlying connective tissue. This can occur with a particularly strong spasm or with weakened connective tissue.
A hypertonic muscle spasm is a condition of chronic, excessive muscle tone (i.e., tension in a resting muscle). This is the amount of contraction that remains when a muscle is not working. A true hypertonic spasm is caused by malfunctioning feedback nerves. This is much more serious and is permanent unless treated. In this case, the hypertonic muscle tone is excessive, and the muscles are unable to relax.
A subtype of spasm is colic. This is an episodic pain caused by spasm of smooth muscle in a particular organ (e.g., the bile duct). A characteristic of colic is the sensation of having to move about, and the pain may induce nausea or vomiting.
spasm, other, uses, disambiguation, odic, redirects, here, british, literary, movement, odic, poets, confused, with, cramp, seizure, this, article, needs, additional, citations, verification, please, help, improve, this, article, adding, citations, reliable, s. For other uses see Spasm disambiguation Spasmodic redirects here For the British literary movement see Spasmodic poets Not to be confused with Cramp or Seizure This article needs additional citations for verification Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources Unsourced material may be challenged and removed Find sources Spasm news newspapers books scholar JSTOR December 2016 Learn how and when to remove this template message A spasm is a sudden involuntary contraction of a muscle 1 a group of muscles or a hollow organ such as the bladder Muscle spasmSpecialtyNeurology A spasmodic muscle contraction may be caused by many medical conditions including dystonia Most commonly it is a muscle cramp which is accompanied by a sudden burst of pain A muscle cramp is usually harmless and ceases after a few minutes It is typically caused by ion imbalance or muscle overload There are other causes of involuntary muscle contractions and some of these may cause a health problem A series of spasms or permanent spasms is referred to as a spasmism Contents 1 Description and causes 2 See also 3 References 4 External linksDescription and causes editThis section does not cite any sources Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources Unsourced material may be challenged and removed January 2024 Learn how and when to remove this template message Various kinds of involuntary muscle activity may be referred to as a spasm A spasm may be a muscle contraction caused by abnormal nerve stimulation or by abnormal activity of the muscle itself A spasm may lead to muscle strains or tears in tendons and ligaments if the force of the spasm exceeds the tensile strength of the underlying connective tissue This can occur with a particularly strong spasm or with weakened connective tissue A hypertonic muscle spasm is a condition of chronic excessive muscle tone i e tension in a resting muscle This is the amount of contraction that remains when a muscle is not working A true hypertonic spasm is caused by malfunctioning feedback nerves This is much more serious and is permanent unless treated In this case the hypertonic muscle tone is excessive and the muscles are unable to relax A subtype of spasm is colic This is an episodic pain caused by spasm of smooth muscle in a particular organ e g the bile duct A characteristic of colic is the sensation of having to move about and the pain may induce nausea or vomiting See also editAntispasmodic Blepharospasm Cadaveric spasm Convulsion Cramp Cricopharyngeal spasm Ejaculation Epileptic seizure Jactitation medicine Myoclonus Neck spasm Orgasm Spasmodic dysphonia SpasticityReferences edit Dorland s medical reference works External links edit nbsp Look up spasm in Wiktionary the free dictionary NIH Medical Encyclopedia How Stuff Works Spasm New International Encyclopedia 1905 Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Spasm amp oldid 1214114858, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
