36 Pictures To See Which Muscle You’re Stretching

Ask your therapist which of these stretches correspond to your spastic muscles. Even though stretching is inconclusive on treating your spasticity except for the PMS type.

The effects of stretching in spasticity: a systematic review.

prolonged muscle stretch on spastic muscle of stroke patients

36 Pictures To See Which Muscle You’re Stretching

Arm stretching while sleeping

This has become one of my irritations. If I'm sleeping on my back eventually I can get my left arm to lay flat at my side, if I move the arm 8 inches away from my hip it takes about 20 minutes before it will lay flat. At 90 degrees to my body the arm will never lay flat, I can try to put pillows on it, they don't help at all. If I roll on my left side I can get the arm above my head but only if there is a headboard to grab onto. The hotels I've been at do not have headboards. If I roll onto my back from my side with the arm above my head the forearm will point straight up. This would be solveable if I had a partner that could sit or lay on the damned arm. I'm trying to see if PMS would actually help in my situation.

Once again spasticity defeats me.

prolonged muscle stretch on spastic muscle of stroke patients

A little bit more of news on the spasticity front. Ask your therapist if this might help you. This is only 10 years old so if your therapist doesn't know this ask them why.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11370763

Tsai KH, Yeh CY, Chang HY, Chen JJ.

Department of Industrial Management, Southern Taiwan University of Technology, Tainan, ROC.
by KH Tsai - 2001

Abstract

The control of spasticity is often a significant problem in the management of patients with spasticity. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of a single session of prolonged muscle stretch (PMS) on the spastic muscle. Seventeen patients with spastic hemiplegia were selected to receive treatment. Subjects underwent PMS of the triceps surae (TS) by standing with the feet dorsiflexed on a tilt-table for 30 minutes. Our test battery consisted of four measurements including the modified Ashworth scale of the TS, the passive range of motion (ROM) of ankle dorsiflexion, the H/M ratio of the TS, and the F/M ratio of the tibialis anterior (TA). The results indicated that the passive ROM of ankle dorsiflexion increased significantly (p < 0.05) compared to that before PMS treatment. Additionally, PMS reduced motor neuron excitability of the TS and significantly increased that of the TA (p < 0.05). These results suggest that 30 minutes of PMS is effective in reducing motor neuron excitability of the TS in spastic hemiplegia, thus providing a safe and economical method for treating stroke patients.

I do wish they had come up with another acronym, I really don't want to say I worked on PMS with my therapist today. Most of my therapists were women,  I can just hear them saying, ' We're going to work on your PMS today'.