Muscle spasms or twitches are involuntary movements within the muscles that can range from annoying to painful. They can occur in any part of the body, but for fibromyalgia sufferer's common spots are the back, buttocks or legs.

To understand why muscle spasms occur, it important to have a bit of background on how muscles work. To move a muscle a number of impulses are triggered along the nerve circuits in your body. These impulses control the contraction and relaxation of the muscles. Muscle spasms happen when these nerves start to fire involuntarily, resulting in the muscle starting to spasm.

This can cause mild symptoms like tingling or involuntary movements, sometimes quite exaggerated. A relatively high number of Fibromyalgia sufferer's also content with Restless Leg Syndrome (RLS) which appear to be linked to sleep disorders, another common symptom.

Treatment for muscle spasms

For immediate relief of muscle spasms, there are several temporary treatment options. For one, you could take pain relievers. However, doing so would only offer relief for a short time, perhaps as much as a few hours. You could speak to your doctor about getting a prescription for anti-spasmodics to lower the incidence of muscle spasms.

There are also a number of treatments that you can try that don't involve medication. Physical therapists recommend hot compression as warm temperatures help relax joints and muscles. Then, there are gentle massage regimens to help blood circulate better in the affected areas and improve the production of hyaluronic acids that the joints need.

Extreme relaxation can also be quite helpful. Management of stress would be a contributing long-term solution to both fibromyalgia and muscle spasms.

Studies have show that gentle stretching and exercise are effective ways of reducing muscle spasms. If you choose to try this then start slow and build up as over doing it could encourage worse spasms.

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There are a number of topical creams that have good track records in suppressing muscle spasms. Commonly these creams containing Methyl Sulfonyl Methane or MSM. MSM is part of the sulfur family and is found in many plants and also in high concentrations in our skin, joints, nails and hair. Unfortunately as we age the levels of MSM found in the body reduce causing tissues to breakdown, fatigue and raised levels of physical stress.

We have a long track record of using sulfur to ease muscle and joint aches and pains, from full immersion in naturally forming pools of sulfur mud to the more civilized beauty treatments we have today like sulfur body wraps. However, we seem to have forgotten the healing benefits this can bring.

The important element of MSM is its anti-inflammatory properties that help to reduce pain impulses, increase the blood supply, soften scars and most important of all reduce muscle spasms. MSM can also be taken as a supplement or is available in powered form, however, when applied topically it can target specific areas quickly.

MSM is a dietary supplement and not a drug, but it is still advisable to consult with your doctor about using it, either topically or as a supplement, to ease muscle spasms and fibromyalgia symptoms.