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Skeletal Muscle Relaxants
Author(s) -
See Sharon,
Ginzburg Regina
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
pharmacotherapy: the journal of human pharmacology and drug therapy
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.227
H-Index - 109
eISSN - 1875-9114
pISSN - 0277-0008
DOI - 10.1592/phco.28.2.207
Subject(s) - muscle relaxant , medicine , skeletal muscle , antispasmodic , tizanidine , dantrolene , tolerability , diazepam , anesthesia , pharmacology , adverse effect , spasticity , calcium
Health care providers prescribe skeletal muscle relaxants for a variety of indications. However, the comparative efficacy of these drugs is not well known. Skeletal muscle relaxants consist of both antispasticity and antispasmodic agents, a distinction prescribers often overlook. The antispasticity agents—baclofen, tizanidine, dantrolene, and diazepam—aid in improving muscle hypertonicity and involuntary jerks. Antispasmodic agents, such as cyclobenzaprine, are primarily used to treat musculoskeletal conditions. Much of the evidence from clinical trials regarding skeletal muscle relaxants is limited because of poor methodologic design, insensitive assessment methods, and small numbers of patients. Although trial results seem to support the use of these agents for their respective indications, efficacy data from comparator trials did not particularly favor one skeletal muscle relaxant over another. Therefore, the choice of a skeletal muscle relaxant should be based on its adverse‐effect profile, tolerability, and cost.