A spasm of the body in which the spine is arched backwards, occurring, e.g., in people with tetanus.
Severe muscle spasm, sometimes occurring in the final stages of tetany, in which the back arches, the head bends back, and the heels are flexed toward the back.
The position of the body in which the head, neck, and spine are arched backward. It is assumed involuntarily by patients with tetanus and strychnine poisoning.
The name for a position assumed by the body during one of the convulsive seizures of tetanus. The muscles of the back, by their spasmodic contraction, arch the body in such a way that the person for a time may rest upon the bed only by their heels and head.
A tetanic spasm in which head and heels are bent backward and the body is bowed forward. This type of spasm is seen in strychnine poisoning, tetanus, epilepsy, the convulsions of rabies, and in severe cases of meningitis. In the latter case, the patient’s neck is rigid and the head retracted, seeming to press into the pillow.
A severe muscular contraction causing the back to arch intensely, making the individual rest on the back of their head and heels. This can occasionally be seen in conditions like cerebrospinal fever, epilepsy, rabies, tetanus, and strychnine poisoning.