hi, i was dx with pd 3 years ago my doctor checked me 2 months ago and said she noticed spasticity in all 4 limbs i looked it up on the internet and it is not a symptom of pd but of ms . they didnt say anything about ms so can people with pd have spasticity. thanks

Do you have cramping and turning in of your foot or involuntary twisting of your hand? I was also dxs 3 years ago and presented with thiese involuntary movements and cramping like a charlie horse in my leg. Also rigidity and cogwheel movement in my arm were present. My body had a tendency to pull forward while I was sitting at my desk at work. It is very uncomfortable but the sinemet and requip have helped a lot to relieve these symptoms. I haven't heard my Dr. refer to it as spasticity.

Hello,

Is the doctor who saw the spasticity your neurologist? A movement disorder specialist? Both conditions cause an increase in tone. I've read this description many times, in many places:

"Rigidity is caused by an involuntary increase in muscle tone and it typically affects the muscles of the limb, prior to axial involvement. Initially, rigidity is unilateral, however, as the disease progresses, it becomes bilateral. Resistance is constant throughout flexion and extension and is not velocity dependent.

This is in contrast to the situation with spasticity, which is velocity dependent and has variable resistance through the range of motion (known as the clasp-knife phenomenon).

Rigidity may be described as cogwheeling, which is thought to reflect rigidity with superimposed tremor. Rigidity in the axial muscles results in the flexed posture that is characteristic of PD."

More here:

http://www.wemove.org/spa/spa_meas.html

The following study concludes that:

"Conclusions: Velocity dependence analysis indicates that rigidity and spasticity have approximately equal velocity dependent properties. For differentiating these two types of hypertonia, position dependent properties may be employed."

"spasticity showed progressively increasing muscle tension relative to position; rigidity showed increased (relative to the norm) but constant muscle tone over the entire stretch range"

Quantitative analysis of the velocity related pathophysiology of spasticity and rigidity in the elbow flexors
H-M Lee1, Y-Z Huang2, J-J J Chen3 and I-S Hwang

http://jnnp.bmjjournals.com/cgi/cont...tract/72/5/621

I can't answer your question about the existence of spasticity in IPD.

~Zucchini

In this disorder the pyramidal signs included mild spasticity:

Brief Report
Familial levodopa-responsive parkinsonian-pyramidal syndrome
P. Nisipeanu 1, A. Kuritzky 2, Prof. A. D. Korczyn 1 *
1Departments of Neurology, Tel-Aviv Sourasky Medical Center, Israel
2Beilinson Hospital, Sackler Faculty of Medicine, Tel-Aviv University, Ramat Aviv, Israel


Abstract
We present four patients - two pairs of siblings - followed for many years, with pyramidal and parkinsonian features, who responded consistently to levodopa therapy. The patients belong to two unrelated consanguineous families, suggesting that this condition is genetically determined and recessively inherited.

http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/c...02220/ABSTRACT

thanks so much for the feedback