LUCKY MICE: new research shows blood pressure drug preventing spasms after SCI

Yes, once again, we must caution our readers from getting overly excited by the headline of this story but research involving mice has shown that a blood pressure drugs helps prevent the onset of spasms following a spinal cord injury. The University of Copenhagen researchers were experimenting with a drug called nimodipine, given to the mice soon after their injury for six weeks, and observed for a period of nine weeks.

The mice went on to develop only mild signs of spasticity, or none at all. What really surprised the researchers, however, was that the effects of the treatment seem to endure, keeping the spasticity at bay even after the treatment had stopped.

Spasticity, a common side effect of spinal cord injuries, is caused by a breakdown in communications from the brain that normally regulate one’s reflexes. The involuntary, sustained muscle spasms that result can occur in any part of the body impacted by the spinal cord injury, and can appear as soon as a few hours after the injury, or only begin to take hold some months later. It afflicts around 70 percent of sufferers.

Read more about this study HERE.