Contractures

Original Editors - Habibu Salisu Badamasi

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Introduction[edit | edit source]

Contractures are generally myogenic and can mimic cramps. Often described by patients as exertional muscle stiffness or muscle cramping after arbitrary movement such as lifting heavy objects for more than a few seconds or after repetitive movements. Stretching the affected muscle during a contracture does not provide relief, and contractures generally last longer than muscle cramps. Painful contractures are prominent in metabolic myopathies such as McArdle disease, glycogenosis type V.[1] [2]

Definitions[edit | edit source]

Contractures are defined as shortenings of the muscle resulting in an inability of the muscle to relax normally.[1]

  1. 1.0 1.1 Dijkstra JN, Boon E, Kruijt N, Brusse E, Ramdas S, Jungbluth H, van Engelen BG, Walters J, Voermans NC. Muscle cramps and contractures: causes and treatment. Practical Neurology. 2023 Feb 1;23(1):23-34.
  2. Berardo A, DiMauro S, Hirano M. A diagnostic algorithm for metabolic myopathies. Current neurology and neuroscience reports. 2010 Mar;10:118-26.