Spasticity

Living with spasticity can make you feel as though you have no control over your own body. Spasticity causes your muscles to contract so much that they become rigid or stiff and interfere with your quality of life. It’s a chronic and common symptom in people with neurological disorders like multiple sclerosis and stroke, as well as among people who have experienced spinal cord injuries or traumatic brain injuries.

To quickly clear up any confusion: Spasticity is not the same thing as a muscle twitch, which is when your muscles unexpectedly contract or relax, causing them to jerk, according to the Cleveland Clinic. Twitches are generally fleeting and can happen when you’re stressed, anxious, or fatigued, though it’s not clear why they happen in the first place. Spasticity, on the other hand, is caused by a disruption in the nerve signals that are sent from your brain and spinal cord to your muscles, resulting in chronic, uncomfortable, and oftentimes painful sensations of stiffness and rigidity.

Interested in learning more? Here’s what you need to know about what spasticity feels like, what causes it, how spasticity is treated, and more.

Spasticity can be a symptom or side effect of many different neurological conditions.

Amanda K Bailey

First, it’s helpful to understand what’s happening inside your body when you use your muscles to do something like stand up from a chair, for example. Your brain sends and receives signals to your muscles through neurons, or nerve cells that travel along pathways located in your brain and spinal cord, according to the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. Typically these signals tell some of your muscles to contract and others to relax, which gives you control of your muscles so you can do the things you want—like stand up or take a step forward, according to the Cleveland Clinic. “Otherwise we’d walk with really stiff legs if all the muscles contracted at the same time,” Natalie Diaz, MD, a neurologist at the Pacific Movement Disorders Center at Providence Saint John’s Health Center in Santa Monica, tells SELF.

When a part of the brain or spinal cord responsible for these signals is damaged, more muscles contract, resulting in symptoms as mild as stiffness and as severe as painful, uncontrollable spasms. This is what is known as spasticity.

Spasticity can cause muscle tightness, lack of muscle control, and difficulty performing typical activities of daily life, according to Paul Haffey, MD, assistant professor of rehabilitation medicine at Columbia University Irving Medical Center.

Here are more details on the most common spasticity symptoms and what each may feel like, according to the Cleveland Clinic:

• Stiffness: Your arms, legs, or other areas of your body may feel really heavy when you try to move.
• Restricted movement: You might have difficulty moving your hands, straightening a leg, or walking because of the stiffness.
• Muscle contractions: You might have involuntary muscle movements that feel painful.
• Posture problems: You could have a hard time staying balanced and upright.
• Complications: You could develop bone, muscle, and joint deformities if you don’t get treatment. In extreme cases, some people develop pressure ulcers, or sores, because of the friction that tight muscles create against bony areas like the shoulders and hips.¹
• Decreased quality of life: Doing day-to-day tasks like washing your hair or trying to exercise can feel physically impossible when you’re really stiff.

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