Open AccessPhenol nerve block for the management of lower limb spasticity
Author(s) -
Moheb Gaid
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
advances in clinical neuroscience and rehabilitation
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2397-267X
pISSN - 1473-9348
DOI - 10.47795/cwth7183
Subject(s) - spasticity , medicine , upper motor neuron , contracture , physical medicine and rehabilitation , hemiparesis , stroke (engine) , muscle stiffness , spinal cord injury , spinal cord , surgery , amyotrophic lateral sclerosis , disease , mechanical engineering , lesion , stiffness , structural engineering , psychiatry , engineering
Spasticity is defined as a motor disorder with failure to inhibit velocity-sensitive stretch reflexes leading to exaggerated muscle resistance. It is a cardinal feature of upper motor neuron lesions and can affect patients with congenital and acquired brain and spinal cord injuries of variable aetiologies (traumatic, vascular, neoplastic, and demyelination). The exact incidence and prevalence of spasticity are unknown. A consensus of experts in Britain believes it to be about 20% of stroke patients and 75% of patients with severe brain injury [1]. Spasticity varies in severity from muscle stiffness to severe, painful, and uncontrollable muscle spasms. Spasticity can be general, involving multiple limbs and trunk muscles, regional, affecting a group of muscles in one or more limbs, or focal, affecting a single muscle. Spasticity can affect the ability to feed and dress oneself, bladder and bowel control, hygiene, and mobility. It also predisposes to complications such as pressure sore formation due to poor seating / laying posture and contracture.