Is 'Muscle Spasm' even a diagnosis?
You may have seen that Terri Garr, died recently. I was definitely in love with her! She was the doctor’s assistant in ‘Young Frankenstein’. One of my favourite films ever. Whenever the name ‘Frau Blucher’ was mentioned, the horses would go crazy. You can see it on YouTube here.
In much the same way, I had a patient a while back whose back muscles would go crazy when you discussed his work with him. If you changed the subject, the back spasm would calm down. It was quite bizarre. Back muscle spasm can be caused by all sorts of things, including internal problems like gallstones.
The key is not just knowing that the patient has muscle spasm, but finding out what is triggering off the spasm.
Guess what the Tapentadol was prescribed for? That’s right - back pain! So ironic. If you want to know just how ineffective medication is for back pain then read last year's article in the BMJ (2).
So, is ‘muscle spasm’ a diagnosis? Let me know what you think!
kaizen: the art of continuous improvement.
I worked in clinical practice for 38yrs. Now I mentor colleagues. Interested?
References:
