It’s not a complete solution (personally, I need prescription drugs as well), but exercise certainly does help.
Not sure what your worry is about doing the exercises recommended by the physio? I assume he means to manually lift/straighten the leg, by holding it? I can’t see how this would be harmful, especially if the alternative is that the leg couldn’t be stretched/exercised at all.
I think the idea is that by getting your leg used to going through the motions - albeit with a bit of help - it would eventually be able to do it by itself.
Sorry I’ve nothing further to add, but I’m a bit perplexed by this bit of his advice.
Was he advising against using functional electrical stimulation - which is where (in layman’s terms) an electrical impulse is fired down the nerve to get the muscle to work - or some other form of stimulation and, if so, what?
There are a lot of people out there who use functional electrical stimulation to help them walk safely and to keep their muscles exercised and hence delay atrophy, so I’d be surprised if he were talking about this.
Oh, having said I’ve nothing to add, have you seen the MS Trust’s useful factsheet on managing spasticity?
This recommends stretching, amongst other things. You sound as though you do quite a bit of exercise anyway, so adding in a few extra stretches might be sufficient to help.
I personally use Baclofen, and wouldn’t be without it.
I don’t think you can necessarily conclude (your comment in another thread) that Tizanidine is “better”. It may have been better for that one poster - however, everyone is different, so what worked out better for somebody else might not be the sane for you.
I think we are moving towards an era when it may be possible to predict whether someone will respond well to a drug, or have side-effects, based on their genetic makeup. But we are not there yet, so at the moment, the only way to find out what’s best for you personally is to try one, and see how it goes.
I was lucky, with Baclofen working first time, and no side-effects at all, that I’m aware of. But things might just as easily have gone the other way, and I would have had to give up and try another one.
Exercise is not a miracle, and will not necessarily see big improvements. However, it might help to stop you getting worse; have you thought of that?
Now you have explained, I can understand your worry about perhaps becoming dependant on lifting the leg manually. But if you did not help it in this way, would your leg be able to make the movement at all, by itself, or would you end up just avoiding moving, because you couldn’t lift the leg sufficiently? I think lifting it with help would be preferable to being stuck in a chair. At least then, it would be getting a reminder of how it’s supposed to work.