Happy to be of help.
I was standing at checkout with my Mom at clinic with several diff specialists. A Dr came by, stopped to tell receptionist that "The patient who called in because they were having pain with MS couldn't possibly be in pain. That MS didn't cause pain.". I am sorry, but I had to speak up, Dr was speaking to receptionist checking us out, so I was right there. I was polite, as I am certainly no Dr. But I have seen 1st hand the pain my husband has been in. And the pain some of my therapy patients experience. And it really isn't good practice to use "All or nothing" regarding people anyway..unless one says people are all different, and nothing is ever the exact same. :-)
Stretching and massage can be beneficial for many things.
Take care,
C
Your post is exactly what I needed to read!Recently,the muscle spasms in my feet aren't the only problem.My left leg and right arm have started hurting.
I've been doing my own therapy,using a weight, and a ball that I squeeze in my hand."Use it or lose it" is my motto.I downloaded some stretching exercises from the MS society.I haven't been diagnosed with MS,but my neuro thought the stretching exercises were good.
My husband has problems with increased spacticity in his legs, too. He has suffered from RLS for years, we never equated it to the MS, until after his diagnosis. And before we knew he had MS, he was having Achilles problems on his "good" leg. Turned out he had a bone spur that had chipped off, had shredded the tendon, and the tendon was shortened due to the spacticty. He had surgery to remove the bone spur fragments and repair the tendon.
For the spasticity, at 1st, His Neuro actually had him on Baclofen for it. Hubby ended up swelling in hands and feet, turns out he is one of the few people who have that side effect. Hubby now takes Neurontin, but only at bedtime as it makes him too sleepy. We also have one of those electric neck massagers that actually work pretty well on the calf and thigh area. Agree with hbananas, a good massage is great, and it would mean being sort of rich to have them very often..lol
My degree is in OT, I asked Neuro for an rx consult for PT. One of my PT friends saw hubby for a few treatments. Showed us stretching exercises that can help, too, with and without Theraband. We always do the stretching activities first, as it is not good to try and strengthen a spastic muscle...just feeds into the spacticity. I think I even underestimated how much stretching can help!
Since we are all different, it's always best to consult with your Dr and see what works best for you.
Take care,
C
Professional massages are fantastic, but unless you're sort of rich, that's probably not the answer. Have you ever tried self-massage with one of those foam rollers? That helps my glutes, IT bands, and calves. You have to be able to hold yourself up to do the rolling, so it requires some arm strength.