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spasm

  (spăz'əm) pronunciation
n.
  1. A sudden, involuntary contraction of a muscle or group of muscles.
  2. A sudden burst of energy, activity, or emotion.

[Middle English spasme, from Old French, from Latin spasmus, from Greek spasmos, from spān, to pull.]


 
 

A sudden involuntary muscle twitch ranging in severity from the mildly irritating to the very painful. A spasm may be due to a chemical imbalance in muscles; massaging the area often helps to end the spasm.

 
Thesaurus: spasm

noun

    A violent, excruciating seizure of pain: cramp1, paroxysm, shoot, throe. See pain/pleasure.

 
(spaz′əm)
n

A sudden involuntary contraction of a muscle or muscle group. It may cause a twitch or close a canal or passage, depending on its location.

 

muscle spasm

A sudden, involuntary muscle twitch ranging in severity from merely irritating to very painful. A spasm may be due to chemical imbalance. Massaging the area may help to end the spasm.

 
involuntary rigid muscle contraction, often persistent and often accompanied by pain. It usually has some underlying physical cause such as disease, strain, or injury to the muscle or nearby tissues, impairment of circulation, or a disturbance of body chemistry. The spasm may be confined to one group of muscles or it may be severe and fairly generalized, as in convulsions. Painless localized spasms are called tics. These purposeless movements, usually of some part of the face, may begin as purposeful movement in response to some stimulus but eventually are carried out automatically, apparently without reason. They may disappear spontaneously after a time, or may require the elimination of some physical or psychic cause.


 

1. a sudden involuntary contraction of a muscle or group of muscles.
2. a sudden but transitory constriction of a passage, canal or orifice. Spasms usually occur when the nerves supplying muscles are irritated, and are commonly accompanied by pain. Occasionally a spasm may occur in a blood vessel, and is then called vasospasm.
Spasms vary from mild twitches to severe seizures and may be the signs of any number of disorders.

  • bronchial s. — bronchospasm; spasmodic contraction of the muscular coat of the smaller divisions of the bronchi.
  • esophageal s. — occurs mostly in young horses, the cause is unknown and the clinical syndrome is one of esophageal obstruction.
  • inherited congenital s.'s — in Jersey calves at birth; lethal within a few weeks; characterized by intermittent, vertical tremor of the head, neck and limbs, making progression and standing impossible; conditioned by a recessive gene.
  • muscle mass s. — the basic functional defect in such diseases as Elso heel, inherited periodic spasticity.
  • nodding s. — clonic spasm of the sternomastoid muscles, causing a nodding motion of the head.
 
Word Tutor: spasm
pronunciation

IN BRIEF: A sudden contracting of muscles. Also: A sudden temporary outburst.

pronunciation I had a muscle spasm after the difficult workout.

 
Wikipedia: spasm
Name of Symptom/Sign:
Muscle spasm
Classifications and external resources
ICD-10 R25.2
ICD-9 728.85

A spasm is a sudden, involuntary contraction of a muscle, a group of muscles, or a hollow organ, or a similarly sudden contraction of an orifice. It is sometimes accompanied by a sudden burst of pain, but is usually harmless and ceases after a few minutes. Spasmodic muscle contraction may also be due to a large number of medical conditions, however, including the dystonias.

By extension, a spasm is also a sudden and temporary burst of energy, activity, or emotion.

Muscle spasms in a patient suffering from tetanus (1809)
Enlarge
Muscle spasms in a patient suffering from tetanus (1809)

A subtype of spasms is colic, an episodic pain due to spasms 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 if severe. Series of spasms or permanent spasms are called a spasmism.

In very severe cases, the spasm can induce muscular contractions that are more forceful than the sufferer could generate under normal circumstances. This can lead to torn tendons and ligaments.

Some argue that hysterical strength is a type of spasm induced by the brain under extreme circumstances.

See also

External links


 
Translations: Translations for: Spasm

Dansk (Danish)
n. - spasme, krampe

Nederlands (Dutch)
kramp

Français (French)
n. - (Méd) spasme, spasme, accès (de)

Deutsch (German)
n. - Krampf, Anfall

Ελληνική (Greek)
n. - (φυσιολ.) σπασμός, σύσπαση, (μτφ.) έξαψη, παροξυσμός

Italiano (Italian)
spasmo

Português (Portuguese)
n. - convulsão (f), espasmo (m)

Русский (Russian)
спазм, приступ, порыв

Español (Spanish)
n. - espasmo, convulsión

Svenska (Swedish)
n. - spasm, kramp, ryckning

中文(简体) (Chinese (Simplified))
痉挛, 抽搐, 一阵发作

中文(繁體) (Chinese (Traditional))
n. - 痙攣, 抽搐, 一陣發作

한국어 (Korean)
n. - 경련, 발작 , 한 차례

日本語 (Japanese)
n. - 痙攣, 発作, 衝動

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(الاسم) نوبه, تقلص عضلي لا أرادي وغير سوي‏

עברית (Hebrew)
n. - ‮עווית, התכווצות, התקף, התפרצות‬


 
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