Non-drug therapies for the secondary prevention of lower limb muscle cramps.

Background: Lower limb muscle cramps are common and painful. They can limit exercise participation, and reduce quality of sleep, and quality of life. Many interventions are available for lower limb cramps; some are controversial or could cause harm, and often, people experience no benefit from the interventions used.

Treatment Approaches for Atypical CIDP.

The variants of chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy (CIDP) differ not just in their clinical, pathological and electrophysiological characteristics, but often in their indifferent response to conventional immunosuppressive agents which are effective in typical CIDP. High quality evidence is lacking as far as the management of these atypical variants is concerned. In this review, we summarize the treatment approaches to each of these CIDP variants based on existing data.

Neurologist practice patterns in treatment of muscle cramps in Canada.

Recently an article provided patient perspectives on therapies and perceived effectiveness in preventing muscle cramps. However, there are few studies evaluating physicians' point of view in the management of this common symptom. In our study, we studied physician practice patterns in the treatment of muscle cramps by surveying a group of neurologists in Canada.

Treatment for cramps in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis/motor neuron disease.

Background: Cramps are painful, involuntary muscle contractions. They commonly affect people with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis/motor neuron disease (ALS/MND) at all stages of the disease. To date, the treatment of muscle cramps in ALS has been largely empirical without any evidence from randomised controlled trials.

Enteral tube feeding for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis/motor neuron disease.

Background: Enteral feeding (tube feeding) is offered to many people with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis/motor neuron disease experiencing difficulty swallowing (dysphagia) and maintaining adequate nutritional intake leading to weight loss.

Objectives: To examine the efficacy of percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy placement or other tube feeding placement on: (1) survival;(2) nutritional status; (3) quality of life;(4) minor and major complications of percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy.

Search Strategy: We searched the Cochrane Neuromuscular Disease Group Trials Register (24 November 2009), MEDLINE (from January 1966 to September 2009), and EMBASE (from January 1980 to September 2009) for all papers on enteral tube feeding in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis/motor neuron disease.