What Is Cyclobenzaprine Used For?
Cyclobenzaprine hydrochloride (
Flexeril®) is a prescription medication used to treat muscle spasms. As a muscle relaxant, cyclobenzaprine can help relieve pain, tenderness, and stiffness due to muscle spasms.
A muscle spasm is an uncontrollable
contraction of a muscle. Muscle spasms can cause pain, tenderness, and stiffness. Sometimes muscles spasms in the neck can cause
headaches. Muscle spasms are a frequent cause of
back pain.
Most often, muscle spasms are caused by injury, overuse, or similar problems (like sleeping in a strange position). Cyclobenzaprine usually works quite well for these types of muscle spasms. However, some people have muscle spasms due to problems in the brain or spinal cord, such as with cerebral palsy or spinal cord injury. Cyclobenzaprine is not usually very effective for these types of muscle spasms.
Cyclobenzaprine is intended to be used for only two or three weeks at a time. This should be enough time to allow any muscle injury or damage to heal. If you feel that the problem has not improved after two or three weeks, check with your healthcare provider. You may have an ongoing problem that needs to be treated differently.
How Does Cyclobenzaprine Work?
It is not clear as to how exactly cyclobenzaprine works to relieve muscle spasms. However, it is known that it mostly works in the brain stem, not in the spinal cord and not directly on the muscles. Cyclobenzaprine only works to relieve muscle spasms caused by problems in the muscles; it does not help with muscle spasms caused by problems in the brain or spinal cord.
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