USE OF METHOCARBAMOL FOR MUSCLE SPASM AFTER LUMBAR AND CERVICAL LAMINECTOMIES

During a period of eight months, 32 patients with moderately severe to severe paravertebral and trapezius muscle spasm after lumbar and cervical laminectomy were studied at the Lahey Clinic and the New England Baptist Hospital. Twenty-two patients had undergone lumbar laminectomy for herniated intervertebral disk or spinal cord tumor, and in 10 patients the laminectomy was performed in the cervical region. Almost an equal number of laminectomies had been performed during the same period without evidence of postoperative muscle spasm. In the patients with palpable muscle spasm and pain of too severe a degree to be considered solely the result of the operative procedure, however, methocarbamol (Robaxin) was administered in intravenous and oral doses. No attempt was made to use the drug prophylactically; it was given only to those patients who exhibited severe palpable muscle spasm and pain of nonradicular character— that is, pain unrelated to the preoperative pain caused