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

Treating Spasticity - Oral Medications and Surgery Spasticity a disorder of muscle function that causes muscle tightness or spasm. It is the involuntary movement (jerking) of muscles, which occurs when there is damage to the central nervous system. This damage may result from a traumatic brain, injury stroke, tumor, cerebral palsy or multiple sclerosis (1). Symptoms may include 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 mild as the feeling of stiffness or tightness of muscles, or it may be so severe as to produce painful uncontrollable spasms of the extremities, usually of the legs. It may also produce feelings of pain or tightness in and around joints and can also cause low back pain (3). Some 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 stop 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 decide if decreasing spasticity is worth the side 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). While 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 used 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 available 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 reduction 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 cognit ion (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.