Quite often, people who need to relax their muscles turn to medical specialists. In most cases, they are prescribed special medications - muscle relaxants. After they enter the body, they block the myoneural synapse, as a result of which skeletal muscle tissue relaxes.
Such medicines have a wide scope of use: they are used not only for surgical interventions, but also to eliminate seizures, before the joint is repaired, and in some cases to alleviate the condition of a patient suffering from osteochondrosis. What muscle relaxant ointments exist? Read about it later.
Where are muscle relaxants used?
Currently, these drugs are used in various medical sectors, which has become possible due to their extensive effect on the body. As a rule, they are used in the following situations:
- As a means to eliminate neurological diseases that occur with increased tone.
- To neutralize pain in the lower back.
- Before the operation, muscle relaxants are introduced into the abdominal cavity.
- For the treatment of certain diseases, drugs are used as a diagnostic tool.
- When carrying out electroconvulsive treatment.
- For the treatment of osteochondrosis.
- The doctor can prescribe these medicines with a herniated disc.
And although these medicines can be used for different purposes, they should not start therapy on their own. Before treatment, it is imperative to consult with a medical specialist.
Types of muscle relaxants
This group of drugs is usually divided into two types:
- Peripheral.
- Central.
The first ones disrupt the signal from the nerve, through which impulses from the central nervous system come to the tissue, consisting of multinuclear muscle fibers. As a rule, these drugs are widely used in traumatology and surgery.
The central ones affect certain parts of the brain and spinal cord that are responsible for muscle tone. Used for diseases that are associated with neurology. Depending on the composition, medications of central action are divided into the following types:
- Derivatives of glycerol - "Isoprotan", "Prenderol".
- Derivatives of benzimidazole - "Flexen".
- Combined drugs - "Phenaglycodol", "Baclofen."
Peripheral muscle relaxant drugs are divided as follows:
- Non-depolarizing - "Diplacin", "Melliktin", "Pipecuronium".
- Depolarizing - "Dithilin".
- Mixed - Dixonium.
Release form
These medicines are in the form of tablets and injectable solutions. Injections are given with an acute course of the disease and only under the supervision of a medical specialist. For long-term therapy, tablets are used. Since these medications affect the central nervous system and the conductivity of nerve signals, muscle relaxants in creams and ointments to relieve muscle cramps are not used due to their low efficiency.
External medications for muscle relaxation and elimination of cramps, which are sometimes called muscle relaxants, as a rule, belong to other groups of drugs (analgesic, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs).
Therefore, muscle relaxants-ointments do not exist. Muscle relaxants are used to neutralize muscle cramps in the back and neck with:
- Osteochondrosis (damage to the spine, which is characterized by degenerative and dystrophic disorders of the intervertebral discs, and then the vertebral tissues themselves).
- Intercostal neuralgia (a disease of the peripheral nerves characterized by the presence of pain in the chest).
- Coxarthrosis (a chronic disease that causes damage and destruction of the hip joint).
- Pondylosis (a chronic degenerative-dystrophic process that develops as a result of aging, overload, or spinal injury).
- Leg muscle spasms with sciatica (the collective name for intense pain along the sciatic nerve).
Side effects of muscle relaxants
Drugs can cause certain adverse reactions:
- Allergic reactions.
- Nausea.
- Lethargy.
- Lowering blood pressure.
- Migraine.
- Upset stool.
- Disorders of the kidneys with prolonged use.
Poisoning with such medications can lead to health consequences.
Muscle relaxants overview: list of drugs
Almost everyone in life experienced pain in the lower back, and in rare situations it becomes simply painful. Even the strongest person can get such an unpleasant symptom from the normal rhythm of life.
Muscle relaxants are drugs that have a strong effect on the human body. That is why self-medication with such medications is contraindicated.
List of muscle relaxant pain relievers:
- "Baclofen."
- Sirdalud.
- Midokalm.
Which drug is suitable for a particular patient is determined by a medical specialist based on the results of the tests, as well as the frequency of seizures and the general condition of the body. These drugs will be discussed in more detail below.
"Baclofen"
The medicine has an intense effect on the nervous and muscle transmission of impulses. The drug has a powerful sedative effect.
According to the instructions for use with "Baclofen", the medication suppresses certain reflexes of the spinal cord, and also greatly reduces muscle tone.
From the stomach and intestines, the drug is well absorbed. The maximum concentration after the use of "Baclofen" the active substance reaches after two to three hours. The medicine is excreted from the body with urine. "Baclofen" is not a muscle relaxant ointment, it is produced only in tablets.
The main indications for use are the following health problems:
- Multiple sclerosis (a chronic disease in which the myelin sheath of the nerve fibers of the brain and spinal cord is disturbed).
- Cerebral palsy (impaired functioning of the musculoskeletal system, which is characterized by an abnormality of motor function and postural tone, acquired at an early age, even before birth).
- Paralytic syndromes (a state of total dementia manifested by euphoria, complacency, a sharp decrease in criticism, disnematic disorders, an absurd delirium of greatness and wealth, as well as the leveling of characterological personality traits).
- Brain damage.
- Spinal cord diseases.
- Stroke (a pathology that develops after a sudden violation of the blood supply to nerve cells, which leads to their death).
- A heart attack (a focus of ischemic necrosis of the heart muscle that develops as a result of an acute violation of coronary circulation).
- Cramping.
- Spinal cord injuries at an unspecified level.
Sirdalud
The medicine belongs to the group of central muscle relaxants.
Tablets are recommended for patients in the following situations:
- Muscle cramps (involuntary convulsive muscle contraction, usually accompanied by sharp and aching pain).
- Intervertebral hernias (a disease of the human musculoskeletal system associated with displacement of the pulpous nucleus of the intervertebral disc with rupture of the fibrous ring).
- Osteoarthrosis of the hip joint (the destructive process that is localized in the joint, cartilaginous plates, which are its internal coating, suffer from pathology).
- Spastic muscle conditions (the state of muscle fibers when they are in an uncontrolled tone).
Sirdalud is not a muscle relaxant ointment, the drug is available only in capsule form.
Midokalm
Tablets belong to the clinical and pharmacological group of drugs "central muscle relaxants." "Midokalm" leads to the relaxation of spasmodic striated muscles and is used for pathological conditions that require a decrease in skeletal muscle tone.
The active component of tolperisone tablets is considered a muscle relaxant of central influence. It has several biological effects:
- It has an analgesic effect.
- It slows down the conduction of impulses in centrifugal nerve fibers, which leads to blocking of spinal reflexes.
- Partially inhibits the release of mediators in synapses.
After using the Midokalma tablet, the orally active component is well absorbed into the blood from the intestines. It is evenly distributed throughout the body tissues, exchanged in the liver and kidneys to inactive decay products that are excreted from the body with urine.
What is better Sirdalud or Midokalm? These drugs represent one group (muscle relaxants), but they have significant differences. "Midokalm" has fewer contraindications for use, and is also characterized by a small number of negative reactions, but lidocaine is present in the composition of the medicine for injection.
When choosing the right medication, a number of factors are taken into account - this is the composition, form, dosage, contraindications and side effects. Pay attention to reviews, but drugs have a different effect on the human body with certain pathologies. If one drug helps, others have adverse reactions.
Sirdalud or Midokalm, which is better? The first drug causes a variety of negative effects, it is not used for a large number of pathologies. This medication has bans for use in childhood and retirement age. It contains no lidocaine, which in some situations is a plus.
Muscle Cramps Ointments
One of the most famous dosage forms that are used to quickly relieve muscle cramps are ointments with a complex spectrum of action. It should be noted that most drugs contain painkillers and have anti-inflammatory effects.
Of the most popular specialists, they single out medicines that help not only neutralize muscle spasm, but also eliminate some ailments that caused their manifestation. Most often, doctors prescribe the following medications to patients:
- "Long."
- Ketonal ointment.
- "Fastum" gel.
- Finalgon.
- Capsicum.
The muscle relaxant creams listed above are not relevant, however, they have a wide spectrum of effects, are commercially available, but before use it is advisable to visit a medical specialist for advice to prescribe the right medication that will help to most effectively neutralize pain and possible inflammation.