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Brain stimulation may curb MS spasticity

Last Updated: 2007-03-30 14:05:19 -0400 (Reuters Health)

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Magnetic stimulation of the brain (transcranial magnetic stimulation or TMS) may help relieve “muscle spasticity” in people with multiple sclerosis, Italian researchers have found.

Spasticity is a form of muscle overactivity. A spastic muscle becomes stiff or rigid and resists being stretched out.

Dr. Diego Centonze, from the Universita Tor Vergata in Rome, and colleagues tested various high- and low- frequency TMS protocols in 19 people with MS and spasticity of the legs.

They report in the journal Neurology that a single treatment session with either low frequency or high frequency TMS had no effect on spasticity.

With multiple applications of high frequency TMS over a 2-week period, however, significant improvements in spasticity were seen. Moreover, the benefit persisted for at least 7 days after the last treatment session.

This study shows that magnetic stimulation of the brain “modulates spasticity” in patients with multiple sclerosis. Further studies are warranted, they conclude.

SOURCE: Neurology March 27, 2007.

It’s worth a shot. My left calf muscle has been seized up most of the time for several weeks. And last night my hand cramped so badly — for no reason whatsoever — that I was reduced to pounding at it with the other hand like Doctor Strangelove.

Last updated on Friday, March 30, 2007