Types of Pain Where Muscle Relaxants may Provide Relief

What are muscle relaxants?

Muscle relaxants are a group of medications that have an overall sedative effect, musculoskeletal relaxant properties, and central nervous system depressant. They are prescribed to reduce muscle spasms or muscle spasticity and decrease pain, which can limit mobility. Muscle relaxants also improve muscle movement.

How muscle relaxants work

Muscle relaxants relax or reduce tension in the muscles. Some work in the brain or spinal cord to block hyper nerve pathways, while others act directly on muscles. They treat two main conditions: muscle spasticity (a continuous muscle spasm that causes tightness) or muscle spasms (sudden, involuntary contractions of a muscle).

Pain that may be eased with muscle relaxants

Muscle relaxants may be prescribed in conjunction with physical therapy. They can ease pain and muscle spasms when beginning a new physical therapy program to treat chronic pain conditions. Muscle relaxers may also be effective in providing relief for certain conditions, which include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Back pain
• Neck pain
• Cerebral palsy
• Multiple sclerosis (MS)
• Spinal cord injuries or lesions
• Malignant hyperthermia
• Whiplash
• Fibromyalgia
• Parkinson’s disease
• Restless legs syndrome
• Strained muscles, ligaments or tendons
• Spine surgery