Muscle Cramps and Contractures
Muscle cramps are painful, sudden, involuntary muscle contractions that are typically self-limiting. They are typically part of normal human physiology but can be associated with a wide range of acquired and inherited causes. They are infrequently due to progressive systemic or neuromuscular diseases. Contractures are defined as muscle shortening resulting in an inability of the muscle to relax normally and are generally myogenic in origin.
Muscle cramps are thought to arise from spontaneous ectopic discharges of motor nerves or the terminal branches of motor axons. Their precise pathophysiology remains unknown. A muscle contracture, on the other hand, is the shortening of the muscle resulting in an inability of the muscle to relax, and usually has a myogenic cause.
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