[Painful hypertonia of the calves. The role of the level of arousal apropos of 25 new cases].

Role of the level of alertness. Based upon 25 new cases. The author, after referring to the leg muscle bed syndrome associated with exercise, reports the frequency of painful spasticity of the calves, occurring initially at rest and in particular at night in the form of a restless legs syndrome, then secondarily during the day with varying degrees of persistence at rest and during exercise. This problem frequently has a lateral dominance and appears to be induced by self-maintained functional muscular spasticity of the gastrocnemii and soleus, explained by a study. It is frequently attributed to a venous etiology. This study based upon 25 cases enabled definition of the diagnosis and showed the probable links between EMG hyperactivity and a high level of alertness indicative of a predisposing situation.