spasm

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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.

noun

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

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.

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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.

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.

• Signs and Symptoms - spasm: sustained involuntary muscular contraction
• Fusses and Troubles

For the 1993 metal album, see Spasm (album).

"Spasmodic" redirects here. For the British literary movement, see Spasmodic poets.

Muscle spasm

ICD-10	R25.2
ICD-9	728.85
MeSH	D013035

In medicine a spasm is a sudden, involuntary contraction of a muscle, a group of muscles,^[1] or a hollow organ, or a similarly sudden contraction of an orifice. It most commonly refers to a muscle cramp which is often accompanied by a sudden burst of pain, but is usually harmless and ceases after a few minutes. There is a variety of other causes of involuntary muscle contractions, which may be more serious, depending on the cause. The word "spasm" may also refer to a temporary burst of energy, activity, emotion, stress, or anxiety unrelated to, or as a consequence of, involuntary muscle activity.

Contents 1 Description 2 Causes 3 See also 4 Notes 5 External links

Description

A variety of types of involuntary muscle activity may be referred to as a "spasm". Examples include muscle contractions due to abnormal nerve stimulation, or abnormal activity of the muscle itself. A series of spasms or permanent spasms are called a spasmism. A spasm may lead to muscle strains or tears of tendons and ligaments, if the force of the spasm exceeds the tensile strength of the underlying connective tissues, such as with a particularly forceful spasm, or in the case of weakened connective tissues.

True hypertonic spasm is caused by malfunctioning feedback nerves, 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 spasms is colic. This is 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.

Causes

Amongst causes of spasms are insufficient hydration, muscle overload, and absence of electrolytes. Spasmodic muscle contraction may be due to a large number of medical conditions, including the dystonias. Hypertonic muscle spasms is the state of chronic, excessive muscle tone, or tension in a resting muscle – the amount of contraction that remains when a muscle is not actively working.

See also

• Antispasmodic
• Blepharospasm
• Cadaveric spasm
• Cramp
• Cricopharyngeal spasm           
• Ejaculation
• Jactitation (medicine)
• Myoclonus
• Neck spasm
• Orgasm
• Seizure
• Spasmodic dysphonia

Notes

1. ^ "spasm" at Dorland's Medical Dictionary

see Black Death

External links

Look up spasm in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

• NIH Medical Encyclopedia
• How Stuff Works

v t e Symptoms and signs: nervous and musculoskeletal systems (R25–R29, 781.0, 781.2–9) Primarily nervous system Primarily CNS Movement disorders Dyskinesia: Athetosis · Tremor · Dyskinesia Gait abnormality Scissor gait · Cerebellar ataxia · Festinating gait · Marche a petit pas · Propulsive gait · Stomping gait · Spastic gait · Magnetic gait Lack of coordination Dyskinesia: Ataxia (Cerebellar ataxia/Dysmetria, Sensory ataxia) Dysdiadochokinesia · Asterixis Other Abnormal posturing: Opisthotonus Perceptual disorder: Hemispatial neglect Facial weakness · Hyperreflexia · Pronator drift Primarily PNS Gait abnormality Steppage gait · Antalgic gait Primarily muscular Movement disorders Spasm (Trismus) · Fasciculation · Fibrillation · Myokymia · Cramp Gait abnormality Myopathic gait · Trendelenburg gait · Pigeon gait Other Tetany · Meningism Primarily skeletal Rachitic rosary · Clubbing Primarily joint Joint locking M: CNS anat(n/s/m/p/4/e/b/d/c/a/f/l/g)/phys/devp noco(m/d/e/h/v/s)/cong/tumr, sysi/epon, injr proc, drug(N1A/2AB/C/3/4/7A/B/C/D) M: PNS anat(h/r/t/c/b/l/s/a)/phys(r)/devp/prot/nttr/nttm/ntrp noco/auto/cong/tumr, sysi/epon, injr proc, drug(N1B) M: MUS, DF+DRCT anat (h/n, u, t/d, a/p, l)/phys/devp/hist noco(m, s, c)/cong(d)/tumr, sysi/epon, injr proc, drug (M1A/3) M: BON/CAR anat(c/f/k/f, u, t/p, l)/phys/devp/cell noco/cong/tumr, sysi/epon, injr proc, drug(M5) M: JNT anat(h/c, u, t, l)/phys noco(arth/defr/back/soft)/cong, sysi/epon, injr proc, drug(M01C, M4)

v t e Myopathy (M60–M63, 728.0–3,8) Pain Myalgia (Fibromyalgia) Inflammation Myositis (Pyomyositis) Lytic Muscle weakness · Rhabdomyolysis · Muscle atrophy/Amyotrophy Other Myositis ossificans (Fibrodysplasia ossificans progressiva) · Compartment syndrome (Anterior) · Diastasis of muscle (Diastasis recti) · Muscle spasm M: MUS, DF+DRCT anat (h/n, u, t/d, a/p, l)/phys/devp/hist noco(m, s, c)/cong(d)/tumr, sysi/epon, injr proc, drug (M1A/3)

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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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