Gipertonus - a condition characterized by abnormal muscle tension and reduced ability of muscles to stretch. The reason for this state - damage to the upper / central motor neurons of central nervous system transmit impulses to the muscles and regulating muscle tone, posture, reflexes. Cause damage to the central nervous system may be a variety of injuries, diseases and disorders. Two main types of muscle hyper - spasticity and rigidity.
The most common example of a hyper muscle - short-term (episodic) gipertonus manifesting a brief spasm of certain muscles (for example, an ordinary cramp). If abnormal muscle tension caused significant damage to the central nervous system as a result of any disease, hypertonicity observed constant and independent of human activity. Increased tone may vary as individual muscles (for example, only the flexor) and large muscle groups.
Hypertonicity of muscles can cause the following diseases and disorders:
- Vascular diseases of the brain or spinal cord, accompanied by damage to the central nervous system (stroke)
- Diseases of the central nervous system in children (cerebral palsy)
- Demyelinating disease (most often - diffuse (multiple) sclerosis)
- Various types of spinal or brain
Signs
In general, with increased muscle tone characteristic of tension, compression, reduction in range of motion. In the most severe cases of muscle hypertonicity causes some discomfort, a sense of tension, muscle tightness, which often disappears after a mechanical action (rubbing, massaging). For mild cases of hyper characterized, first of all, muscle spasms, causing sharp pain. In the most severe cases, the muscles become very tight, do not be felt, painfully react to mechanical stimulation (eg, massage).
Treatment
The main method of treatment of hyper muscle in adults - muscle relaxants in combination with physical therapy.
The most common drugs to combat gipertonusom - baclofen, diazepam, dantrolene administered orally or by injection into the spinal fluid. In some situations, for the treatment of local cases of hyper muscle (muscle spasms of local character) can be used botulinum toxin (botulinum toxin) that acts on the local area of the body as a muscle relaxant. For the treatment of some forms of hyper - particularly muscle stiffness caused by Parkinson's disease - used drugs that affect dopamine receptors (levodopa, entacapone, eliminating some of the symptoms of Parkinson's disease and muscular rigidity as well).
Gipertonus children
Increased muscle tone frequently observed in newborns - is explained by the fact that the peripheral nervous system of the baby is not fully formed, and some disorders of muscle activity are natural. Typically, muscle hypertonicity disappears on its own within a few months (for the muscles in the arms, this period may be up to three months for the muscles of the legs - up to four months). The potential danger of hyper newborn should not be underestimated: increased muscle tone may lead to a violation of a child's development, which, in turn, will cause gait disturbance, the formation of incorrect posture, incoordination. If you notice signs of increased muscle tone in a young child shows therapeutic massage
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In some cases - physiotherapy to help normalize muscle tone.
Characteristic signs hypertone a child - "sandwiched" posture (limbs bent and pressed to the body - posture of the embryo), lack the ability to independently raise and keep the head from the first days of life (in a normal situation, the child can normally keep the head only after seven to eight weeks after birth), the apparent resistance in extension of limbs, disturbance of some reflexes.
Hypertonus of skeletal muscle
The muscles of our body are divided into skeletal or striated (they consist of red and white fibers and exercise our body movements) and smooth, which are located inside the internal organs and blood vessel walls.
All the muscles are never relaxed, they retained some tension - muscle tone. To determine the tone of the skeletal muscles, various diagnostic methods, the most common of which is now the electromyography - Check the electrical activity of the muscles at rest and during different kinds of movements. In some diseases, skeletal muscle tone may be decreased (hypotonia) or increase (hypertonicity).
Increasing muscle tone usually associated with the central nervous system. There are two types of hyper - spasticity and rigidity. Spastic hypertonicity characterized by unevenness of its distribution - the so-called selective type of hyper (eg spazmiruyutsya only muscles - flexors).
Hypertonicity rigidity or plastic type tone unlike the spasticity generally evenly covers all muscle. When passive (performed by another person) motion is determined by a uniform "waxy" resistance to muscle tension. Repeated passive movements often lead to increased tone.
Increasing muscle tone are observed in many diseases of the nervous system. Spasticity occurs frequently in lesions of the nervous centers and motor pathways, and muscle rigidity - with many focal lesions of the brain. In early childhood changes in muscle tone can occur in encephalopathy and cerebral palsy.
When a child is born, the tone of his muscles - flexor muscle tone dominates - extensors (muscles spastic hypertonicity). Therefore, all the newborn baby as it is compressed: the legs bent at the knees and hips, pens - the elbows, fists clenched. But gradually this hypertonicity decreases to month child no longer looks so compressed.
In some cases, gipertonus remains for a longer time, which indicates the violation of the central nervous system - from there to the muscles receiving signals contraction.
Such brain damage called perinatal encephalopathy. In addition to hyper for this disease is characterized by increased nervous irritability of the child. Hypertonicity of muscles leads to the fact that the child moves less, and therefore lags behind both in the physical and psychological development. He later begins to sit, crawl, stand up and walk on legs. At the same time, he usually walks on tiptoes - is one of the most characteristic features of hyper.
For the treatment of hyper prescribe various medications that normalize the nervous system and relieves muscle spasm. But the main treatment - a medical relaxing massage, which is carried out courses for 10-15 procedures several times during the first year of life.
Gipertonus smooth muscle
When the tone of smooth muscles of internal organs may occur squeezing the small blood vessels that feed these bodies, breaking their diet, there is pain. Especially characteristic of such pain to the gastrointestinal tract. Doctors recommend them to immediately withdraw drugs called antispasmodics (papaverine, no-spa, etc.). Hypertonus muscles of blood vessel walls causing high blood pressure.
Today, great importance is attached to muscle hypertonicity of the uterus during pregnancy. During this period, the muscles of the uterus should be in a calm state, supported by the female sex hormone progesterone hormone
Progesterone - norm and pathology
Which inhibits uterine hypertonus. To leave the production of progesterone decreases, increases the formation of other female sex hormones - estrogens, which contribute to increased excitability of the muscles of the uterus - there is hypertonicity, which is so necessary during childbirth. If there is hypertonus prematurely, it threatened miscarriages and various complications in the hearth.
The cause hyper uterus during pregnancy is often a lack of progesterone.
Furthermore, hypertonicity of the uterus can cause severe sudden stress
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Hypertonicity of the uterus can occur quickly, or there are small nagging pains in the abdomen
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and in the lumbar region. If the gestational age is big, can appear cramping, stomach becomes hard. At the first sign of uterine hypertonus pregnant woman should consult a physician.
Prolonged skeletal muscle hypertonicity and smooth muscle is almost always a symptom of a disease.
Galina Romanenko
