Division of Endocrinology, Diabetology and Metabolism, Department of Internal Medicine, University of Turin, Turin, Italy.
Exerc Sport Sci Rev. 2013 Jan;41(1):3-10. doi: 10.1097/JES.0b013e3182724817.
Cramps are sudden, involuntary, painful muscle contractions. Their pathophysiology remains poorly understood. One hypothesis is that cramps result from changes in motor neuron excitability (central origin). Another hypothesis is that they result from spontaneous discharges of the motor nerves (peripheral origin). The central origin hypothesis has been supported by recent experimental findings, whose implications for understanding cramp contractions are discussed.
抽筋是突然的、无意识的、疼痛的肌肉收缩。其病理生理学仍未被充分理解。一种假设是抽筋是由于运动神经元兴奋性的变化（中枢起源）引起的。另一种假设是它们是由于运动神经的自发放电（周围起源）引起的。中枢起源假说得到了最近的实验发现的支持，这些发现对理解抽筋收缩的意义进行了讨论。
