Exploring Body Position & Muscle Spasms

[BFSDiner]

I know this topic has been discussed quite a bit. But I can't find the answer. Has anybody come to any conclusions as to why the position of your body seems to play a role in the muscle spasms? Why is it that when I'm sitting, leaning forward with my elbows on my knees, my muscle spasms get noticeably worse than when I lean back in my chair? Why am I fine sitting up, but things get worse when I lay down? Why does my left calf twitch and spasm when I'm laying on my left side, but then completely stop when I turn over to my right side? Every single time. Why, when I feel my leg twitching, and I lean forward to take a peek at it, does it completely stop? Pretty much every time.Looking at this from a very amateur standpoint, one might come to the conclusion that there is in fact something going on with the spine, or something is making contact or pulling or straining on something physically that is affecting this. It has always cracked me up reading my MRI report, where the radiologist states that I have several issues with my spine, but "nothing is making contact" with the nerves. Well yes, maybe nothing is making contact while I'm laying perfectly still in that one position. But the spine is incredibly flexible. And if you are telling me I have a bulging disc, what's stopping it from compressing the nerve in another position?Just some thoughts.BFSB

 

[JohnnyRocket]

Much like most things related to our symptoms, we don't have answers. And when we think we have answers, more often than not, they aren't good ones. Most people go through the phase of trying to make sense of this stuff, and eventually that wears off. Not only is it somewhat of a lost cause (based on so much past effort and lack of the medical world caring), but obsessing over this stuff generally increases symptoms or, at the very least, does not help.

 

[BFSDiner]

Thanks Johnny. Aside from the viewpoint that asking anything, wondering anything, inquiring about anything, or even thinking about this condition at all equals a complete effort in futility..... is there anyone that might have any theories? Not trying to diagnose, or cure right now. Just found it an interesting aspect of the condition, and was interested in people's thoughts.

 

[JohnnyRocket]

Yeah I know you were wanting thoughts, and I realize my answer wasn't what you were looking for. The issue is that I know for a fact that obsessing over this stuff has caused problems for many, many people, and my goal is to save as many people as possible from going down painful paths. I understand you are wired to persist with this stuff and that's fine. My responses are as much for the other potential 100's of people that might read this thread as they are for the original poster. As for your theory, I don't believe my symptoms necessarily react as yours do. I know I can induce and stop certain twitches based on body position, but I only usually notice this when dealing with on limb...like if I bend my arm at the elbow to a certain angle my bicep might start twitching.

 

[Gracer]

on my point of view it just means that in some way you interrupt the source of discharges. Most possbily you can either 1) release your pinched nerve making constant shouting in its electrical way or 2) apply enough muscle tension to stop weaker responce (a bit of analogy between the action caused by ritaline in case of hyperexcitable CNS in children with attention disorders - they recieve so much of excitation that it saturates their neuronal links and they are able to work normally without spontaneous action causing them loss of attention and concentration)

 

[BFSDiner]

Johnny, asking questions doesn't automatically qualify as obsessing. And not all topics automatically qualify as unhealthy. Some, like this one, are neutral, or even interesting. I understand your viewpoint, but you keep interrupting discussions to say: "Dont ask questions. Dont wonder. Don't even think about it". Technically we could just shut down the Forums entirely, and post that as a Banner on the home page.Gracely - your comment sounds about right. Its just so funny that when I lean forward to look at my calf, it stops immediately. A lot of people have likened this to an invisible little elf running around poking you in various places. And sometimes the way it reacts sure looks intentional, even though its not. Sounds about right that movement of any kind would result in a new type of muscle tension - ever so slight - which could offset the spasms for a short while. I learned that when I had my EMG done. The roaring static when I thought i was laying "completely relaxed" shows that muscles are contracted with even the slightest movement. So interesting!

 

[Gracer]

Well, I think that our bodies become silent only in case of death, which is obvious.Even when you lay down, most of your leg, back and neck/abdomen muscle are in tonus to keep you alerted. Even in sleeping body muscles do not sleep, also some autonomously driven muscles like bowels or heart, are never asleep )) The EMG device is also very sensitive, because signals are small, so background noise is quite significant (that is why i beleive they use statistics to treat our results, othervise sometimes it owuld be hard to distinguish between relevan and irrelevan signals).