Tonic and Atonic seizures

Tonic seizures

Tonic seizures result in all your muscles tightening. Your body stiffens and you will fall over unless you are supported. Tonic seizures usually last less than 20 seconds and most often happen during sleep.

Atonic seizures (also called drop attacks or akinetic seizures)

In an atonic seizure, all your muscle tone is lost and you drop heavily to the ground. The seizure is very brief. You are not confused afterwards and are usually able to get up again straight away. However, because your body usually falls forward in an atonic seizure, you are at risk of banging your head on furniture or other hard objects. If you have frequent atonic seizures, extra safety precautions – like wearing protective headgear - make sense.

You can find details of companies that supply protective headgear on our Daily Living Aids factsheet.

• First aid for seizures
• Back to generalised seizures