Contracture

A contracture is a shortening of muscles, tendons, skin and nearby soft tissues that causes a joint to shorten and become very stiff, preventing normal movement. It is usually permanent, though it can be temporary, as in McArdle disease, or can resolve and later return, as in Bethlem myopathy 1. It often follows prolonged spasticity in a concentrated area of muscle, such as in people with spastic cerebral palsy, but it can also arise from abnormal development of muscle and connective tissue before birth. Contractures develop when normally elastic tissues such as muscle or tendon are replaced by inelastic fibrous tissue, which leaves the area rigid and the joint deformed, with loss of movement around it. Physical and occupational therapy for people with spasticity aim chiefly to stop contractures forming in the first place. The article also separates muscle contractures from skin contractures, which follow large wounds or burns.