spasm

Noun
  1. A painful and involuntary muscular contraction (synset 114383864)
    is a type of: symptom - (medicine) any sensation or change in bodily function that is experienced by a patient and is associated with a particular disease
    subtypes:
    • charley horse, charley-horse - a muscular cramp (especially in the thigh or calf) following vigorous exercise
    • graphospasm, writer's cramp - muscular spasms of thumb and forefinger while writing with a pen or pencil
    • blepharospasm - spasm of the eyelid muscle resulting in closure of the eye
    • crick, kink, rick, wrick - a painful muscle spasm especially in the neck or back (`rick' and `wrick' are British)
    • myoclonus - a clonic spasm of a muscle or muscle group
    • opisthotonos - severe spasm in which the back arches and the head bends back and heels flex toward the back
    • twitch, twitching, vellication - a sudden muscle spasm; especially one caused by a nervous condition
    • tenesmus - painful spasm of the anal sphincter along with an urgent desire to defecate without the significant production of feces; associated with irritable bowel syndrome
    • trismus - prolonged spasm of the jaw muscles
    same as: cramp, muscle spasm
  2. (pathology) sudden constriction of a hollow organ (as a blood vessel) (synset 100226974)
    referred to in: pathology - the branch of medical science that studies the causes and nature and effects of diseases
    is a type of: constriction - the action or process of compressing
    subtypes:
    • bronchospasm - a spasm of the bronchi that makes exhalation difficult and noisy; associated with asthma and bronchitis
    • cardiospasm - a spasm of the cardiac sphincter (between the esophagus and the stomach); if the cardiac sphincter does not relax during swallowing the passage of food into the stomach is obstructed
    • heave, retch - an involuntary spasm of ineffectual vomiting
    • laryngismus - laryngeal spasm caused by the sudden contraction of laryngeal muscles

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