title: Muscular cramps: proposals for a new classification.
abstract: Muscle cramps are involuntary, painful, sudden contractions of the skeletal muscles. They are present in normal subjects under certain conditions (during a strong voluntary contraction, sleep, sports, pregnancy) and in several pathologies such as myopathies, neuropathies, motoneuron diseases, metabolic disorders, hydroelectrolyte imbalances or endocrine pathologies. There has been considerable uncertainty in the literature regarding the classification and nomenclature of muscle cramps, both because the term "cramp" is used to indicate a variety of clinical features of muscles, leading to its use as an imprecise "umbrella" term that includes stiffness, contractures and local pain, and because the spectrum of the diseases in which it appears is wide. The purpose of the present study is to propose a simple classification to provide a framework to better recognize the full spectrum of phenomenology of muscle cramps.
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Neurologia Clinica, Otorinolaringoiatria, Riabilitazione Motoria, Sensoria e dei Disturbi della Comunicazione, Università degli Studi di Roma, La Sapienza, Rome, Italy.
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Parisi
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Pierelli
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Amabile
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Valente
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Calandriello
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Fattapposta
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Rossi
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Serrao
mesh_terms: D064420:Drug-Related Side Effects and Adverse Reactions; D004700:Endocrine System Diseases / Q000150:complications; D006801:Humans; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000150:complications; D009120:Muscle Cramp / Q000145:classification* / Q000209:etiology / Q000473:pathology; D009135:Muscular Diseases / Q000150:complications; D010147:Pain Measurement; D009626:Terminology as Topic; D014652:Vascular Diseases / Q000150:complications; D014882:Water-Electrolyte Balance