What are Muscle Relaxants? A class of medications known as muscle relaxants work by relaxing the skeletal muscles, reducing muscle tone, and relieving muscle spasms. While the specific drug determines the exact mechanism of action, most muscle relaxants reduce muscle activity by either acting on the central nervous system or interfering with the transmission of nerve impulses at the neuromuscular junction. How do different muscle relaxants work on the body? Peripheral muscle relaxants , like dantrolene , function by obstructing the release of calcium ions from the sarcoplasmic reticulum found in skeletal muscle cells. Calcium ions play a crucial role in muscle contraction, and by preventing their release, dantrolene reduces the amount of calcium accessible for muscle contraction. This leads to muscle relaxation. Central muscle relaxants , such as baclofen and tizanidine, affect the central nervous system to decrease muscle activity. Baclofen is a GABA agonist that binds to GABA-B r