Cadaveric spasm

Cadaveric spasm, also known as postmortem spasm, instantaneous rigor mortis, cataleptic rigidity, or instantaneous rigidity, is a rare form of muscular stiffening that occurs at the moment of death and persists into the period of rigor mortis.[1] Cadaveric spasm can be distinguished from rigor mortis as the former is a stronger stiffening of the muscles that cannot be easily undone, while rigor mortis can.[2] Unlike rigor mortis, cadaveric spasms are believed to be an ante-mortem phenomenon.[3][4]

The cause is unknown but is usually associated with violent deaths under extreme physical circumstances with intense emotion, such as the circumstances associated with death via combustion.[5]

  1. ^ "Postmortem Changes and Time of Death" (PDF). Dundee.ac.uk. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2012-09-05. Retrieved 2012-08-22.
  2. ^ KNÜSEL, CHRISTOPHER (1996). "Death, Decay, and Ritual Reconstruction: Archaeological Evidence of Cadaveric Spasm". Oxford Journal of Archaeology. 15 (2): 121–128. doi:10.1111/j.1468-0092.1996.tb00079.x.
  3. ^ "Cadaveric Spasm: An Ante Mortem Phenomenon with Post-Mortem Implications - Simplyforensic". Simply Forensic. 2023-04-26. Retrieved 2025-03-17.
  4. ^ Okada, Yohei; Narumiya, Hiromichi; Kobayashi, Naho; Nishimura, Hirotake; Kotani, Hirokazu; Koike, Kaoru; Iwami, Taku; Iiduka, Ryoji (April 2019). "Survival After Cardiac Arrest With Instantaneous Rigorlike Stiffness: A Case Report". Annals of Emergency Medicine. 73 (4): 393–396. doi:10.1016/j.annemergmed.2018.10.031. ISSN 1097-6760. PMID 30528057.
  5. ^ Lyle, Douglas P. (2004). Forensics for Dummies. Indianapolis, Indiana: Wiley Publishing, Inc. p. 165. ISBN 978-0-7645-5580-0.
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