When you have severe spasticity—stiff and rigid muscles—the disabling effects can interfere with your daily life. Most commonly caused by a brain or spinal cord injury, spasticity can make it difficult to walk, control your movements or talk.

At Sutter East Bay Medical Foundation (SEBMF), we’ve formed a multidisciplinary team that’s become a national model for the management of spasticity. The team includes neurologists, spine surgeons, neuroradiologists, rehabilitation specialists and rehabilitation therapists.

We work to prevent complications, including pain, impaired mobility, sleep disruption, depression, progressive scoliosis and muscle contractures. Mild cases of spasticity often respond well to medications and physical or occupational therapies. More severe cases typically need more aggressive intervention, including injections and surgery.

Services we offer include:

• Physical and occupational therapy, including personalized exercise programs and treatment options, such as icing, braces and specialized casting.
• Antispastic oral medications, including baclofen, tizanidine, dantrolene, benzodiazepines and memantine.
• Botulinum toxin injections to reduce spasticity.
• Intrathecal baclofen therapy, also called the baclofen pump, which can be used to directly deliver medicine into the spinal fluid and nervous system. For the past 20 years, we’ve helped hundreds of patients with severe spasticity reduce pain and increase mobility with this treatment. The Alta Bates Summit Intrathecal Baclofen Therapy Program, where we practice, has become one of the largest in California and is a recognized center of excellence for this therapy.