NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Magnetic stimulation of the brain (transcranial magnetic stimulation or TMS) may help relieve "muscle spasticity" in people with multiple sclerosis, Italian researchers have found.
Spasticity is a form of muscle overactivity. A spastic muscle becomes stiff or rigid and resists being stretched out.
Dr. Diego Centonze, from the Universita Tor Vergata in Rome, and colleagues tested various high- and low- frequency TMS protocols in 19 people with MS and spasticity of the legs.
They report in the journal Neurology that a single treatment session with either low frequency or high frequency TMS had no effect on spasticity.
With multiple applications of high frequency TMS over a 2-week period, however, significant improvements in spasticity were seen. Moreover, the benefit persisted for at least 7 days after the last treatment session.
This study shows that magnetic stimulation of the brain "modulates spasticity" in patients with multiple sclerosis. Further studies are warranted, they conclude.
SOURCE: Neurology March 27, 2007.
