Stupid Question

[terrif1ed]

Ok I know this might sound really dumb but I was hoping someone can help me out..

What is the difference between the feeling of stiff joints vs stiff muscles (spasticity)?

I cannot determine which of the two I experience. My body as a whole just feels very stiff.. Especially f I'm seated or in any one position for too long I really feel it when I get up... Kind of like locked. I can barely straighten my legs when I stretch them out, (like my behind my knees I have no flexibility)...Bending of fingers & toes feel like one's would on a really really cold day, you know just kind of stiff/sluggish going through the motions. Muscles themselves don't feel stiff to the touch. Neck feels stiff too, probably from bad posture though. So I'm wondering, does this sound like joint stiffness or muscle stiffness? Once again sorry for this question, I really did try googling this but came up with nothing.

Thanks in advance!

 

[Bad Balance]

I experience spacisity as a vibration within my muscles and a very stiff mobility. Unless the spasm translates into a charlie horse or in my current situation a very hurtful and painful trip to my ribs, it is not an unpleasant feeling.

Not sexual, but it can be a pleasant experience.

 

[Tokahfang]

Spasticity is defined as velocity dependent resistance to passive movement. In layman's terms, if you relax and someone else moves your arm or leg, it resists more the faster they move it. (The web has some good videos of "spastic clasp".) It happens because both the muscle that need to contract and the muscle that need to relax are both getting at least some "contract" signal from the spinal cord.

Obviously, that has effects on us in practice. Someone with spastic legs who tries to walk will fall sometimes, for the same reason that when two people wrestle and one let's go, the other goes flying. Even just the small leg movement to correct a bad step can spastic clasp - nothing happens then it goes all at once, and then you're on the ground. VERY spastic legs operate like walking on stilts, no bending is possible at all, and reduces you to waddling. Other joint spasticity has other effects on our day today. Some spasticity is based on your posture, and it can be used to work around weakness to do activities of daily living. So it is something we experience in many ways.

BUT the important thing to understand is that you can't tell if your stiffness is spastic without a (preferably trained) objective third party. No amount of description of what it feels like will get you there. Many doctors can also recognize a spastic gait, but because that isn't how spasticity is tested, they will still test you via passive movement.

People read about something like spasticity, and they associate it with feeling stiff. Some people do, so that's hardly a rule out, but a surprising amount don't. My doctor prounced my gait spastic after two "steps", but while it has given me pain, I can't say I've ever felt stiff.

 

[Tokahfang]

Oh, I forgot to add:

Spasticity can keep enough juice flowing into unused, even paralyzed, muscle groups to avoid the loss of muscle tone, and it's actually prized by many people with traumatic spinal cord injury. It keeps them from what we call "wheelchair legs" via disuse atrophy, and is considered quite a force in keeping one looking attractive. People whose injuries didn't result in spasticity sometimes use an electro stim machine to duplicate the effect, even though it also doesn't produce controllable movement or functional strength.

 

[Alastor M]

terrif1ed: Somehow, I'm suspicious of your recent update in terms of your forum interest...Has your doctor confirmed what many would call irrationality? I believe you may have a full-blown case of it. Cheers.
Alastor
P.S: Is spasticity what I experience? When I stretch or get up, my legs and arms kind of spazz out,similar to an intense vibration, and then calm down. Also, when I yawn, the muscles that are atrophying (albeit gradually) do the same kind of thing.