Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
A hypnic jerk, hypnagogic jerk, sleep start, sleep twitch, myoclonic jerk, or night start is a brief and sudden involuntary contraction of the muscles of the body which occurs when a person is beginning to fall asleep, often causing the person to jump and awaken suddenly for a moment.
These myoclonic twitches, jerks, or seizures are usually caused by sudden muscle contractions (positive myoclonus) or brief lapses of contraction (negative myoclonus). The most common circumstance under which they occur is while falling asleep (hypnic jerk). Myoclonic jerks occur in healthy people and are experienced occasionally by everyone.
These medications decrease or eliminate both the leg jerks and the arousals. These medications are also successful for the treatment of restless legs syndrome . In one study, co-careldopa was superior to dextropropoxyphene in decreasing the number of leg kicks and the number of arousals per hour of sleep.
Movement usually brings immediate relief, although temporary and partial. Walking is most common; however, stretching, yoga, biking, or other physical activity may relieve the symptoms. Continuous, fast up-and-down movements of the leg, and/or rapidly moving the legs toward then away from each other, may keep sensations at bay without having to ...
Hemiballismus or hemiballism is a basal ganglia syndrome resulting from damage to the subthalamic nucleus in the basal ganglia. [1] It is a rare hyperkinetic movement disorder, [2] that is characterized by pronounced involuntary limb movements [1] [3] on one side of the body [4] and can cause significant disability. [5]
Peripheral neuropathy may be classified according to the number and distribution of nerves affected (mononeuropathy, mononeuritis multiplex, or polyneuropathy), the type of nerve fiber predominantly affected (motor, sensory, autonomic), or the process affecting the nerves; e.g., inflammation (), compression (compression neuropathy), chemotherapy (chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy).
The term cataplexy originates from the Greek κατά (kata, meaning "down"), and πλῆξις (plēxis, meaning "strike") [4] and it was first used around 1880 in German physiology literature to describe the phenomenon of tonic immobility also known as "playing possum" (in reference to the opossum's behavior of feigning death when threatened ...
Dead legs and charley horses are two different types of injuries: A charley horse involves the muscles contracting without warning, and can last from a few seconds to a couple days. A dead leg often occurs in contact sports , such as football, when an athlete suffers a knee or other blunt trauma to the lateral quadriceps causing a haematoma or ...