Get to know about clonus, a condition of irregular muscle contraction

The muscles of the body have a very important role, starting from making it easier for you to walk, lifting an object, to improving the work of the body's organs to circulate blood. Unfortunately, the muscles of the body can experience damage which is marked by abnormal contractions of the muscles called clones. Clonus is a condition when the muscles cannot function optimally which is accompanied by pain. For more details, see the full review below.

A clone is a condition where a muscle twitches

Clonus is a condition that occurs when the muscle nerve cells do not function properly, or become damaged. This damage causes the muscles to contract and move irregularly, even resulting in movements that tend to be out of control.

You may be more familiar with this condition as a muscle twitch or muscle throbbing. However, unlike muscle contractions that only occur occasionally, clonuses can generally occur repeatedly, are painful, and can last quite a long time.

That is why, a recurring clonus often makes your muscles tired, making it difficult for you to move. Clones can affect one or more different parts of the muscle, including the ankles, knees, calves, jaw, elbows, wrists, and fingers and toes.

What causes clones?

The cause of the clonus is not certain. But so far, it is suspected that there is damage to the nerve tissue of the brain that regulates muscle movement. As a result, muscle movements run out of control, causing contractions, and eventually twitching.

Clonus usually occurs in several conditions such as multiple sclerosis (MS), amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), stroke, severe injury, brain damage, cerebral palsy, to paraplegia.

In some cases, liver failure and kidney failure can also result in clonus. This is because waste substances from the body (body waste) accumulate in large quantities. Which then can affect the normal functioning of the brain.

How do you diagnose it?

Clonus is arguably a long-term condition. Therefore, before actually treating a possible clone, it is recommended that you take a series of tests to diagnose this condition. First of all, the doctor usually performs a physical examination, which aims to find out where the clonus often occurs.

In the physical exam, you will be asked to flex several parts of your body that will make your muscles stretch.

If when being checked, the muscle suddenly contracts by itself causing pain, the doctor will check and measure how many contractions have occurred. The next test to detect clones is to use a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) test, to check for damage to the body.

If necessary, blood tests can also be done to help identify various other conditions that may occur due to the clonus.

What is the right treatment for clones?

Clonus is a condition that cannot be taken lightly, so special treatment is needed to cure it. Even so, treatment for clonus can vary depending on the underlying cause. Some of the following remedies are most commonly used to treat clonus:

1. Take medicine

Taking medications, especially those that can help relax muscles, is believed to reduce clonus symptoms. Baclofen (Lioresal), dantrolene (Dantrium), tizanidine (Zanaflex), gabapentin (Neurotonin), diazepam (Valium), and clonazepam (Klonopin) are some types of drugs that doctors often recommend to clonus patients.

You are not recommended to take this medicine while driving a vehicle or operating heavy machinery. The reason is, this type of drug can increase drowsiness.

2. Physical therapy

Source: Advantage Health

Performing physical therapy, along with taking medication recommended by the doctor, can further speed up recovery from the clonus. A physical therapist will help you to train and stretch the work of the muscles, making it easier for you to move the limb in the part of the body that has a clone.

3. Botox injection

Although it is more often used as a beauty treatment, it turns out that Botox injections are no less effective for curing clones. Because Botox is able to work effectively to deal with muscle contractions in areas of the body that experience clones. However, botox injections must be done regularly because the optimality of botox injections can fade within a certain period of time.

4. Operation

If drug administration, physical therapy, or botox injections are deemed ineffective to treat clones, then the final choice falls on surgery. During this procedure, the surgeon will cut several parts of the nerve that are responsible for the abnormal muscle contractions.

5. Home remedies

In addition to regular medical treatment, you can also do home remedies to help manage clonus symptoms at home.

For example, by applying cold compresses to areas of muscles that often experience contractions to relieve pain, soaking in warm water is believed to reduce pain, and doing yoga and stretching to help relax body movements.