How are muscle spasms treated?

How are muscle spasms treated?

Marc Darrow (Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Joint Rehabilitation Sports Medical Center, Inc. ) gives expert video advice on: What are some specific types of chronic pain?; What is "somatic pain"?; How is somatic pain treated? and more...

If a doctor can actually feel a muscle spasm (what we call palpation, by touching) we can inject into the area. We can use a dry needle, like an acupuncture needle, and just stimulate the area, which often will reduce the muscle spasm. We can inject fluid into the area where there is muscle spasm. We can use a local anaesthetic. We can actually use saline; that will help. Sometimes I will pepper saline around an entire muscle area, and that will reduce the spasm. We can inject into the area of muscle spasm with a steroid injection, which is an anti-inflammatory with a little local anaesthetic mixed in with it. You can use electrostimulation to help get rid of the muscle spasm, to get rid of the pain. You can also use cold therapy for the pain, and sometimes you can use heat therapy for it. Chiropractic treatment works very well for muscle spasm. There is just an endless array of tools that can be used in medicine for muscle spasms.