痉挛是一种影响你的肌肉的条件，使它们紧张或僵硬。这可能会影响您进行日常活动的能力，例如步行，饮食和谈话。

这种情况也可能导致疼痛的肌肉痉挛和疲劳。随着时间的推移，痉挛可能会影响你的整体生活质量。

Spasticity may be the result of a variety of conditions, including:

  • spinal cord injury
  • 脑损伤
  • stroke
  • multiple sclerosis (MS)
  • cerebral palsy

While treating the underlying cause of spasticity remains critical, it’s also just as important to seek other forms of support if you’re living with this condition. Here are the people who can provide support and help you manage spasticity.

初级保健医生是一般从业者，他们可以帮助您管理整体健康的许多方面。他们可能是医生或护士从业者。

您可能会定期访问您的主要护理医师，以便进行常规检查和预防性护理。如果您在健康中遇到任何变化，它们通常是第一个医疗保健专业人士。

你的初级保健医生可以玩 重要角色 在诊断痉挛时，帮助您管理触发器，并监控您的情况随着时间的推移。他们还可以将您推荐给专家，以帮助您解决痉挛管理的其他方面。

As part of your overall rehabilitation plan, 大多数临床医生 recommend a combination of therapies to help treat and manage spasticity. Before exploring options such as physical and occupational therapies, though, it’s important that you first seek treatment for the underlying cause of spasticity from your healthcare team.

While your primary doctor will stay play a vital role in your preventive healthcare, you may need to see a neurologist to help treat spasticity. This type of medical doctor specializes in injuries and diseases of both the spinal cord and brain, such as MS, cerebral palsy, and stroke.

Your neurologist can guide treatment of the underlying cause of spasticity. They may also prescribe medication to treat spasticity itself.

Oral medications used to treat spasticity include:

  • Baclofen.
  • 丹罗诺钠
  • Tizanidine.
  • clonazepam
  • Diazepam.
  • gabapentin

Botulinum toxin is another treatment option. It is injected directly into the muscle that needs to relax.

如果药物和物理治疗不缓解痉挛性症状，您的医生可能会推荐手术。选项包括：

  • 肌腱释放的手术
  • surgery to sever the nerve-muscle pathway
  • surgery to implant a pump that delivers muscle-relaxing medication directly into your spinal fluid

根据您需要的手术类型，您可能需要向您的护理团队添加神经外科医生或矫形外科医生。

If your doctor hasn’t yet referred you to a physical therapist to help you manage spasticity, you may consider asking them for this important type of therapy.

物理治疗师将通过伸展和加强锻炼来引导您通过肌肉僵硬，帮助改善平衡和肌肉调理。

他们也可以给你和你的照顾者“家庭作业”，它包括你可以在你的约会之间完成的练习。统称，亲自和家庭的物理治疗（PT）练习也可能有助于防止由于痉挛导致的冷冻关节和皮肤溃疡。

The goal of PT is to help you regain the mobility you need to accomplish everyday physical movements, such as standing tall, sitting, and walking.

除了PT之外，您还可以提到职业治疗师。如果你的痉挛是难以执行基本的自我保健运动，如进食，敷料，沐浴和刷牙，这是特别的情况。

对于痉挛，您可以考虑职业治疗（OT）作为PT的补充。虽然PT帮助您管理您的体力和平衡，但OT专注于帮助您提高执行日常任务并重新获得独立所需的精细机动技能的练习。

职业治疗师也可以评估你的家。他们可能会推荐修改或辅助设备，以帮助使其更安全，更容易执行某些任务。这可能包括淋浴抓住条或适应性的东西，其更舒适地保持。

Spasticity can also affect speech and swallowing capabilities in some people. A speech-language pathologist (SLP) may be able to help.

An SLP can evaluate your speech and help you improve speech techniques so you can regain confidence when talking with others. If spasticity interferes with your ability to swallow water and food, an SLP can help guide you through exercises that target the important muscles needed for swallowing.

即使在持续的医疗团队的支持下，它也可能需要时间来学习帮助管理痉挛所需的技能。

家人和朋友可以提供支持。在一个surveyof people living with spasticity, 64 percent of respondents said they were cared for by a family member.

您还可以考虑国内护士或其他专业护理人，以帮助您使用日常任务，并保持安全。

有支持的家庭和朋友很重要，但与可能患有痉挛可能的其他人也有助于。支持小组是一种方式，您可以与其他了解您所经历的其他人连接。

If you’re looking for an in-person support group, consider starting with nonprofit organizations such as the American Stroke Association or theNational MS Society。

These non-profits may also offer online support groups. You can also search for spasticity-related groups on Facebook. Depending on your underlying condition, examples may include:

Spasticity is caused by a variety of neurological disorders that affect the brain and spine.

虽然可以用药物和手术治疗痉挛的神经损伤，但重要的是寻求其他来源的持续支持，以提高您的整体生活质量。一些疗法，例如Pt，甚至可能有助于降低并发症的风险。

Consider the above sources to help get you or your loved one with spasticity the support needed to manage the condition. If your spasticity symptoms worsen despite treatment, it’s important to speak with your doctor.