Spasticity Management

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Comprehensive care from a multi-specialty team that understands the long-term effects of involuntary muscle rigidity

Spasticity, a common condition following neurological injuries or illnesses, can significantly impact mobility, comfort, and quality of life. Effective management is essential to restoring function and enhancing independence. Shepherd Center’s Rehabilitation Medicine Clinic offers a comprehensive approach to spasticity treatment, ensuring you receive care tailored to your specific needs.

Understanding spasticity

Spasticity, or the uncontrolled tightening or contracting of muscles, often occurs following complex injuries or illnesses like spinal cord injury, brain injury, multiple sclerosis, or stroke. Symptoms of spasticity include:

  • Muscle stiffness
  • Pain and spasms
  • Weakness and fatigue

These sudden, involuntary muscle contractions can interfere with daily activities such as walking, sitting, bathing, or dressing. Spasticity can also be triggered by factors like muscle stretching, pressure sores, urinary tract infections, or muscle injuries.

Comprehensive, specialized care

At Shepherd Center, spasticity management is part of our commitment to helping patients achieve their highest potential. Our multi-specialty team includes experts in physiatry, physical therapy, occupational therapy, and main management. We create personalized treatment plans using advanced therapies and interventions to address spasticity and its related symptoms.Services include:

  • Regular follow-up appointments to monitor progress and adjust treatments.
  • Education and resources to help you manage symptoms at home.
  • Collaboration with your primary care provider for comprehensive, coordinated care.

Treatments for spasticity

A combination of treatments for spasticity provides the most benefit to patients for relief from symptoms and increased independence. Your physical medicine and rehabilitation physician will provide a comprehensive evaluation and a customized treatment plan that helps you overcome muscle spasticity symptoms and enjoy a life with less pain. Specific interventions and therapies may include:

Physical and occupational therapy are two forms of rehabilitation that aim to improve mobility, functionality, and strength. These therapies commonly utilize stretching and strengthening exercises targeting large and small muscle groups to address spasticity.

Braces, including splints or orthoses, limit excessive movement and spasms. Braces can help improve functionality, reduce pain, and strengthen muscles by providing support and stability to affected limbs. Bracing is often used in cases of upper and lower limb spasticity.

Injections can benefit individuals who experience spasticity, pain, and stiffness but do not have total spasticity. Neurotoxins such as Botox, Xeomin, or Dysport are commonly used in the Rehabilitation Medicine Clinic to address these symptoms. Injections help reduce muscle spasticity and promote relaxation, improving mobility and reducing discomfort.

In cases where rehabilitation therapy and injections fail to provide sufficient relief from spasticity, a pump implant may be considered. An intrathecal pump is a device implanted within the abdomen that delivers a steady dose of medication into the epidural space. This method allows for the controlled administration of muscle relaxers without the side effects of drowsiness. The Rehabilitation Medicine Clinic can assess the suitability of this intervention and provide the necessary evaluation for implantation.

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Expert patient advocates to coordinate your care with confidence

Complex conditions, such as brain, spinal cord, or neurological injury, require a complex treatment plan, often encompassing multiple care specialists. To help navigate these healthcare systems, the Rehabilitation Medicine Clinic is staffed with experienced medical professionals, known as case managers, who serve as critical members of your expert care team.