Your muscles play a role in every movement you make. They increase or decrease in tension or resistance to make a movement or stay still (such as to help you maintain your balance).
Spasticity is a common symptom of MS that causes sudden stiffness or involuntary muscle twitching in the body.
With the right information, support and management strategies, you can manage this symptom to live more comfortably.
Spasticity is characterised by stiff, heavy or difficult-to-move muscles. Muscles usually have an internal springiness. In a muscle with spasticity, it’s as if that spring is wound too tightly, causing overactivity in the muscles. This contraction of the muscle can cause stiffness, difficulty moving or unwanted movement.
Spasticity can affect any muscle but usually affects the:
Spasticity tends to become worse over time.
A spasm is the sudden, involuntary tightening or contraction of a muscle. Both spasticity and spasms can be mild, moderate or severe and usually vary over time. The symptoms can be annoying, uncomfortable and unpredictable.
For some people, spasticity or spasms can be painful and affect their ability to walk, sleep and do personal care activities, which may cause a fall or an injury.
The muscles in your body help you move your limbs or hold them still. To make a muscle move, the brain sends a message to either tighten or relax a muscle. For example, to bend your arm, you’ll need to tighten the biceps muscle (at the front of the arm), while relaxing the triceps muscle (at the back of the arm).
MS can affect these signals between the brain and muscles in a few different ways:
The disrupted nerve messages can cause a muscle to make involuntary movements or lose coordination, which can lead to spasms.
Some of the most common signs of spasticity are:
Spasticity makes your body use a lot of energy, which can lead to fatigue and potential pain or tightness in and around the joints and lower back.
The two types of MS-related spasms are flexor spasticity and extensor spasticity.
It’s possible to experience spasticity in the arms, but it’s less common in people with MS.
If you’re experiencing spasticity or spasms for the first time or symptoms are getting worse, speak to your MS nurse, GP or neurologist as soon as possible. This is particularly important if you’re:
The sooner you seek help, the better placed you will be to manage your symptoms and reduce the chance of them getting any worse.
Regular movement and stretching can keep your muscles, ligaments and joints as flexible as possible. You can do this through stretching, yoga, Pilates or other physical activity, or passive movements assisted by a physical therapist.
A physiotherapist can teach you how to stretch, maintain flexibility and move and position your body to prevent muscle tightening or stiffness.
It’s also important to have good posture when standing, sitting and lying down.
There are certain triggers that may set off spasticity symptoms. While they can be different for everyone, they may include:
Allied health professionals, such as an exercise physiologist or a physiotherapist, can help with a range of positioning, stretching and relaxing techniques.
You can also discuss medication and other treatment options with your MS nurse, GP or neurologist.
Emotional support can also go a long way. With our Peer Support program, you can connect with other people living with MS and their families through a range of face-to-face groups and online forums.
This page has been reviewed and approved by Executive Manager Client Engagement and Wellbeing Jodi Haartsen. Jodi is a registered MS Nurse who has helped thousands of patients over her 20 years’ experience at Eastern Health MS service in Australia, in several roles including nurse educator, research nurse and nurse practitioner. Jodi is the 2022 winner of the global MS Brain Health Leader Award in the Independent Healthcare Professionals category.
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