Why does a warm bath cause the anal sphincter to stop spasming?

[bluemoonKY]

Physicians recommend that people with anal fissures take a lot of warm baths. Physicians say that if a person's anal sphincter is spasming (which causes a great deal of pain), a warm bath will cause the anal sphincter to stop spasming.

If I did not post this sentence, someone would probably respond: "the heat of a warm bath causes the anal sphincter to relax. This causes the anal sphincter to stop spasming." A muscle's relaxing is synonymous with a muscle's not spasming. Responding that heat causes the anal sphincter to relax is like saying heat causes an anal sphincter to stop spasming because heat causes the anal sphincter to stop spasmsing. It does not answer the question.

Why does heat cause the anal sphincter to stop spasming?

 

[lisab]

For clarification, I think what you're asking is: What is the effect of temperature on muscle spasms?

(Perhaps the answer will depend on whether the sphincter is a smooth or skeletal muscle, but I will let our medicos take it from here.)

 

[Evo]

Physicians recommend that people with anal fissures take a lot of warm baths. Physicians say that if a person's anal sphincter is spasming (which causes a great deal of pain), a warm bath will cause the anal sphincter to stop spasming.

If I did not post this sentence, someone would probably respond: "the heat of a warm bath causes the anal sphincter to relax. This causes the anal sphincter to stop spasming." A muscle's relaxing is synonymous with a muscle's not spasming. Responding that heat causes the anal sphincter to relax is like saying heat causes an anal sphincter to stop spasming because heat causes the anal sphincter to stop spasmsing. It does not answer the question.

Why does heat cause the anal sphincter to stop spasming?

Do you have any papers on this? Perhaps if you tried to find medical research on this, it would answer your question.

 

[SteamKing]

You could always try an ice bath. It may not stop your anal spasms, but you won't be thinking about them as much.

Heat therapy is effective because it causes the blood vessels in the treated area to dilate:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heat_therapy

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vasodilation

 

[Superman1271]

I had this problem before, and got better after using suppositories. Maybe worth asking your doctor about them.

 

[SteamKing]

These problems are hard to heal. One thing which helps is to make sure there is plenty of fiber in your diet.