Treating Spasticity - Oral Medications and Surgery :: Biology Essays Research Papers

Treating Spasticity - Oral Medications and SurgerySpasticity a disorder of muscle function that causes muscle tightness or spasm. It is the involuntary movement (jerking) of muscles, which occurs when there is rail at to the central nervous system. This damage may result from a traumatic brain, injury stroke, tumor, cerebral palsy or multiple sclerosis (1). Symptoms may hold hypertonicity (increased muscle tone), clonus (a series of rapid muscle contractions), exaggerated deep tendon reflexes, muscle spasms, scissoring (involuntary crossing of the legs), and fixed joints (2). Spasticity may be as loopy as the feeling of stiffness or tightness of muscles, or it may be so severe as to produce painful uncontrollable spasms of the extremities, normally of the legs. It may also produce feelings of pain or tightness in and around joints and can also cause low back pain (3). nearly people find that spasticity is so severe or frequent that it disrupts their life. Health care professional suggest a number of things to calm or founder spasticity range-of- motion exercises, stress management, prescription drugs, physical therapy regimens, and or surgery. Each offers some help, but treatments like medication and surgery bring complications. The patient is forced to fix if decreasing spasticity is worth the expression effects from drugs or loss of some movement and feeling from surgery. Many people who have spasticity take few, if any, medications to control their spasticity (4). enchantment spasticity cannot be cured, some of the problems associated with spasticity can be cared for in a number of ways. At this present time, there are several medications and surgical methods that are utilize to help treat spasticity. In most cases, treatments consist of combinations of different medications, implantation devices, and surgery. The investigation of this paper deals with a comparison of the oral medications being used by patients and the numerous surgical procedures ava ilable to treat spasticity. The use of oral medications for treatment of spasticity may be very effective. Benzodiazepines, baclofen, dantrolene sodium, and tizanidine are the most widely used agents for reducing of spasticity. The challenge is to establish a treatment plan that will strike a vital balance between improved function, patient satisfaction, and possible side effects. At high dosages, oral medications can cause unwanted side effects that include sedation, as well as changes in mood and cognition (5).Benzodiazepines such as diazepam are the oldest and most frequently used oral agents for spasticity related to spinal cord injury, cerebral palsy, and cerebral vascular accident.