Some people experience muscle twitching all over the body everyday.
Muscle twitching is more common than you may think and it’s usually not serious.
Common causes range from too much caffeine and too much stress to strenuous exercise and a lack of sleep.
Gary Ferster / Verywell
Managing stress and limiting caffeine, for example, may be enough to stop the twitching.
Muscle twitching alone does not necessarily indicate a disease.
Other symptoms that something more serious may be going on include muscle weakness or wasting and fatigue.
What Causes Muscle Twitching?
Muscle twitching shows up when nerves misfire, causing groups of muscle fibers to contract uncontrollably.
Muscle twitches are small movements and may go unnoticed.
Benign Causes
Benign twitches are not because of a disease or disorder.
Common triggers for benign twitches include the following:
These triggers may cause the following types of benign twitches.
More Serious Conditions
Lower motor neurons transmit nerve signals from your spinal cord to your muscles.
Muscle twitching is a common symptom of ALS.
The twitching is not painful, butit can interfere with sleep.
Muscle twitching alone doesn’t indicate ALS.
Progressive muscle weakness is the hallmark symptom.
When Should I Worry About Muscle Twitching?
Other Causes of Twitch-Like Symptoms
Twitching is not the only sign of abnormal firing of neurons.
Spasticity and clonus can easily be perceived as twitching, but medically, they’re different.
In more severe cases, the knee-jerkreflexis hyperactive and the muscle that controls the knee shakes rhythmically and uncontrollably.
Other causes of clonus include:
Is Twitching a Sign of MS?
Twitch-like spasticity and clonus are commonmuscle symptoms of MS.
They’re not quite the same as muscle twitching defined as fasciculations.
An MS muscle spasm might feel like a tight muscle or a painful contraction of the muscle.
It could make it difficult to bend or straighten your leg, for example.
Diagnosis
Every disease and condition has its own set of established or widely accepted criteria for diagnosis.
How Can I Stop Muscle Twitching?
Treating the underlying cause of muscle twitches is the primary concern, and it may stop the twitching.
What that entails, of course, depends on what condition is at the root of the symptom.
Taking steps to avoid mental or physical stress can lower your risk of experiencing twitching.
Common causes are often benign, meaning the twitching is not due to an underlying disease or abnormality.
It may go away after a short while or with lifestyle modifications.
Your provider can help nail down the cause of muscle twitching and get you the treatment you need.
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Cleveland Clinic Center for Continuing Education.
Brookfield, CT: Rothstein Publishing
