______ is when there is severe injury to the central nervous system or when there was great tension at the time of death, sometimes stiffening occurs immediately.

• A. Lividity
• B. Luminal
• C. Cadaveric Spasm
• D. Putrefaction

Answer: (C)

Cadaveric spasm is a sudden, near-instantaneous tightening of the muscles at the moment of death, so the body can appear to be frozen in the position it was in when death occurred. It happens especially with severe injury to the nervous system or extreme physical or emotional tension just before death, producing immediate stiffness that can resemble rigor mortis but without the gradual metabolic changes that normally drive rigor. This is why the hands or limbs may be found clenched or held in a fixed posture right at death.

This differs from other postmortem changes: lividity is the settling of blood to dependent areas, causing discoloration rather than stiffness; putrefaction is the decomposition process that occurs over days; and the term listed as luminal isn’t a recognized postmortem change. Cadaveric spasm is notable for its immediacy and its association with intense pre-death stress.