KNEE TWITCHING

How often do you experience knee twitching? How is the experience of knee twitching? How long does it last? How does knee twitching start?

Knee twitching or twitching is defined as involuntary contractions or also known as fasciculations. Knee twitching is caused by twitching in thigh muscles mostly and not the knee itself.

Twitching is normally benign when it happens once or twice but if it’s happening frequently there is some underlying condition for twitching. Twitching usually is the result of muscle fatigue or strain and can sometimes be due to some underlying medical issues.

Causes of knee twitching, symptoms and treatment and other remedies will be discussed in the article below.

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Causes of knee twitching

Dehydration results when there is not plenty of water in the body and can be compensated by the body till a certain level but if the dehydration is severe it can result in severe electrolyte imbalance.

Thus, can result in depleted levels of calcium, potassium and other electrolytes. These low levels can result in twitching.

This can be treated by staying hydrated especially when performing any heavy exercise and thus maintaining the normal levels of electrolytes and preventing the twitching. Thus, best can be treated by staying hydrated all the day.

 

A number of vitamins play a vital role in maintaining the normal functions of body.

Thus, the diet should be nutrient rich and should include vitamins like Vitamin D, vitamin B-6, vitamin B-12, magnesium and calcium. Vitamins play a vital role in muscle contractions, formation of neurotransmitters etc. Some vitamins have receptors on muscles like vitamin d which is mostly sought from the sun and the little of it from the food.

Thus, the deficiency in vitamins should be checked for in the blood by the doctor. Maintaining the normal levels of vitamins can help the patient can rid of this uncomfortable feeling.

 

Some drugs when taken in high doses can result in muscle twitching. These drugs can disturb the electrolytes or can cause muscle fatigue or weakness and even myalgia.

These drugs disrupt the muscle contraction ability and leads to fatigue and thus muscle twitching or knee twitching. In medical field there is term known as drug induced muscle spasm. Certain drugs can cause muscle twitching including knee twitching whenever you take a new drug or you increase dose of a medicine.

Neuroleptic drugs (like risperidone, clozapine, or haloperidol) and anti-emetic drugs cause acute dystonia, which manifests itself as muscle twitch, muscle pain, and soreness. Moreover, taking diuretics can cause muscle twitching by mechanism of dehydration and electrolyte imbalance (particularly hypokalemia, hypocalcemia, and hypomagnesemia).

In case you have an underlying deficiency of these electrolytes, and dehydration, you are at higher risk of getting drug induced muscle spasms.

If such consequences are faced out of drugs, drug dose should be maintained by the doctor or re-adjusted. In some case, some vitamins can be added in addition to these drugs to reduce he fatiguability.

 

Stimulant overdose can lead to muscle twitching. These stimulants include caffeine, amphetamines, alcohol, or other stimulants. If these stimulants are taken in excess can result in muscle twitching and thus the discomfort.

When the cause is diagnosed the stimulant should be reduced or eliminated, and the results can be noticed. Severe overdose needs medical attention by the medical professional.

 

Some auto-immune disorders, the disorders that cause muscle weakness, muscle fatigue and twitching. These auto-immune disorders include Neuromyotonia (Isaac syndrome). This syndrome includes muscle twitching and spasms.

Neuromyotonia is a syndrome which is rare and results in spontaneous and continuous nerve impulses from the peripheral nerves and is characterized by muscle stiffness, twitching, cramps etc. The diagnosis is made by checking the muscle activity (EMG).

 

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis is a neuromuscular disorder characterized by muscle weakness, slurred speech, swallowing problems, muscle cramps etc. The disease usually starts gradually then manifests as bulbar involvement.

This a motor neuron associated disease and involves all the muscles of the body eventually and the patients usually die due to respiratory failure.

Treatment involves no definite cure but some combinations of medicines can slow the progression of the disease.

 

Muscle fatigue can be caused over exertion of the muscles. This over-exertion can cause the nerves supplying the muscle to behave abnormally and result in twitching and abnormal fasciculations.

Muscle fatigue eventually results in twitching and if the causes are not eliminated or there is no modification of the daily activity to get rid of twitching. Muscle twitching can have some other causes as well that involves some underlying medical conditions which involves:

Hypothyroidism, some infections, dehydration, medications, mineral deficiency, fibromyalgia and depression, all of these causes can be considered if muscle fatigue does not improve by modifying any of the modifiable factors.

 

Anxiety is a condition in which disproportionate reaction to the optimum or stressful conditions are seen and this can lead your body to misbehave and thus causing a number of manifestations due to the hormonal imbalance and adrenal secretion.

These hormones cause increased blood flow which causes muscle tension and lead to twitching and fatigue. Adrenal secretions cause over excitation of muscles leading to over excitability mimicking twitching and fasciculations.

 

Stress is a part of life and is with us like any other necessity of life but the conquerors are the ones who know how to tackle and manage the stress in his life. Stress can be managed by maintaining sleep hygiene, eating healthy, exercising on daily basis and your stress is refractory to all of these you may need some therapy and, in some cases, drugs can be of some help.

 

Sleep is a necessity of life and helps the body to function well. Sleep helps the body to maintain normal physiological processes and thus any disturbance in sleep can cause the body to function abnormally.

Sleep disorder results in abnormal release of neurotransmitters and thus impaired information is sent to muscle which results in muscle twitching and fasciculations. Maintaining proper sleep hygiene can really help in the process.

 

Diagnosis

 Diagnosis can be made by history, physical examination and imaging depending on the causes identified or suspected. Diagnosis is primarily based on history, history involving nutrition, hydration, history of past medical history, drug history, caffeine intake etc.

By answering detailed questions clue to a number of underlying conditions and disease can be diagnosed.

Physical examination involves looking for signs of some underlying neurological diseases, deficiency symptoms and some autoimmune disorders. Imaging involves EMG for neurological diseases, running some simple blood tests like CBC, checking the levels of vitamins, etc.

All these steps when run side by side can help in diagnosing the condition.

 

Treatment

Treatment is usually diagnosis based but usually the approach to treatment is based on treating the benign causes by lifestyle modifications.

When the underlying cause is known it is treated by treating the underlying causes. The benign causes are treated by lifestyle modifications like:

managing the stress, sleep hygiene, staying hydrated, exercising properly, taking multivitamins, taking proper rest and taking nutritious diet. Moreover, in some serious conditions by treating the underlying cause or keeping the progression of the disease in check can really help to get rid of the symptoms like knee twitching.

 

Prevention

Prevention has always been better than cure. Prevention can be done on a simple basis by maintaining sleep hygiene, managing stress, eating healthy diet on daily basis, staying hydrated all the day and developing a habit of exercise on routine basis. Prevention works efficiently for the regular and punctual people.

 

When to see a doctor

Usually the causes are benign and can be managed by little modifications in daily life.

The twitches based on benign causes can be eliminated within days to weeks of conservative treatment and lifestyle modification but if you notice worsening of symptoms like twitching not getting better in a span of specific time or after ruling out muscle fatigue, strain or any other benign cause, or some associated symptoms are seen like neurological:

trouble swallowing, difficult speaking, trouble balancing, pain, weakness and fatigue. There is no need to panic about the condition since stress, anxiety can cause the situation to aggravate.

Just see the nearby health professional if any worsening symptom even after appropriate intervention has been done.

 

Takeaway

As it has been explained earlier the causes of knee twitching are usually benign. These benign causes can be approached by normal lifestyle modifications and are expected to get better with time.

But it there has been any worsening of symptoms and the symptoms are not getting any better with any intervention and in addition some other manifestations suggestive of some underlying disease are seen you need to get your medicines regulated or get some tests done and other tests in case of suspicion to some medical condition.