Have you ever experienced a muscle spasm? Muscle spasms occur both in injured and healthy muscle tissue, with one of the most common muscle spasms being cramp. This involuntary and often painful contraction of the muscle fibres can be debilitating and often catches us by surprise.
Here's why you could be experiencing muscle spasms
Muscle fatigue/ tiredness
Muscle strain
Overuse
Low in electrolytes
Dehydration
Neuropathy
Spinal nerve compression/ irritation
The science behind a muscle spasm
Spasms are very alike to cramp and result from a disturbance in the chemical process responsible for contraction at cell level. When these are depleted, imbalanced or energy to initiate a muscle contraction runs out then the involuntary contraction occurs because the chemical processes are no longer uniform.
In the event of fatigue, overuse, low electrolytes and dehydration the chemicals required for normal muscle function have been altered or used up. In cases of muscle strain the overstretch of a muscle has changed the input and altered the chemical balance within the muscle fibres. And in neuropathy and nerve compression the muscle is overstimulated by the nerve which uses the chemical stores much more quickly. All these causes have the same impact on the muscle as the change in availability of chemical stores to create muscle contraction has been interrupted.
When should you seek help for a muscle spasm?
Regular muscle spasms especially when cause is not known
Don't recover with rest
Pain remains after the event of a muscle spasm
Acute pain/ discomfort
Osteopathy can be used in the diagnosis and treatment of cramp and muscle spasms. Your Osteopath will look at the root cause to your symptoms to get you the longer term solution. Want to learn more about how we can help, get in touch with us today.
Phone: 07733201225
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