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EntityQ574360· pop 47· linked from 406 articles

Also known as muscle spasm, muscular spasm

A spasm is a sudden involuntary contraction of a muscle, a group of muscles, or a hollow organ, such as the bladder.

Key facts

Medical condition (new).name
Muscle spasm
Medical condition (new).specialty
Neurology

via Wikipedia infobox

Research

38,991 papers

via PubMed

~2 min read

Encyclopedic overview

7 sections
Contents
  • Description and causes
  • Causes
  • Effects
  • Types of spasm
  • See also
  • References
  • External links

A spasm is a sudden involuntary contraction of a muscle, a group of muscles, or a hollow organ, such as the bladder.

A spasmodic muscle contraction may be caused by many medical conditions, including dystonia. Most commonly, it is a muscle cramp which is accompanied by a sudden burst of pain. A muscle cramp is usually harmless and ceases after a few minutes. It is typically caused by ion imbalance or muscle fatigue.

Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “spasm” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.