Table 1.

Overview of muscle relaxants* grouped according to clinical utility

Group	Clinical utility	Examples of drugs included in this review
Antispastics	To reduce heightened muscle tone (spasticity) commonly associated with cerebral palsy, multiple sclerosis, and spinal cord injuries	Baclofen, dantrolene
Non-benzodiazepine antispasmodics	To reduce acute muscle spasm commonly associated with muscle injury. These drugs also have a strong sedative action	Carisoprodol, cyclobenzaprine, metaxalone, methocarbamol, thiocolchicoside, tizanidine, tolperisone, orphenadrine
Benzodiazepines	To reduce acute muscle spasm commonly associated with muscle injury. These drugs also have a strong sedative action as well as anxiolytic, hypnotic, and anticonvulsant actions	Diazepam
Miscellaneous	Although less commonly classified as muscle relaxants, several other drugs are prescribed for their ability to reduce muscle spasm or muscle tone (spasticity), or both. These include botulinum toxins and non-benzodiazepine hypnotics	Botulinum toxin, eszopiclone

^*Muscle relaxants are generally prescribed to reduce muscle spasm or muscle tone (spasticity), or both. The term muscle relaxant is broad and includes many different chemically unrelated drugs with different clinical utility and mechanisms of action.⁸ The choice of muscle relaxant and frequency of prescription by a doctor varies between countries,^{9 10} with considerable clinical uncertainty in preferencing one muscle relaxant over another.