Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
Muscle atrophy is the loss of skeletal muscle mass. It can be caused by immobility, aging, malnutrition, medications, or a wide range of injuries or diseases that impact the musculoskeletal or nervous system. Muscle atrophy leads to muscle weakness and causes disability.
There are currently no approved medications for the treatment of sarcopenia. [41] Testosterone or other anabolic steroids have also been investigated for treatment of sarcopenia, and seem to have some positive effects on muscle strength and mass, but cause several side effects and raise concerns of prostate cancer in men and virilization in women.
Two common but distinct conditions characterized by a loss of skeletal muscle mass are sarcopenia and cachexia. [52] Sarcopenia and cachexia represent the major causes of muscle-wasting disorders. It has been known for millennia that muscle and fat wasting leads to poor outcomes, including deaths in chronic disease states.
Significant loss of muscle mass can result in lower muscle strength or endurance. In some people, it can also increase the risk of frailty and accidents like falls, which can lead to hospitalization.
Physical therapy involves training the use of the affected limb or training the use of the body. This is for the purpose of retraining muscles after muscle atrophy, and retraining how to use the affected muscles with less amplified pain. Massage therapy is used to desensitize the affected area or body so it can build a tolerance to pain.
Cachexia (/ k ə ˈ k ɛ k s i ə / [1]) is a syndrome that happens when people have certain illnesses, causing muscle loss that cannot be fully reversed with improved nutrition. [2] It is most common in diseases like cancer, congestive heart failure, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, chronic kidney disease, and AIDS.
Treatment involves extensive hydration normally done through IV fluid replacement with administration of normal saline until CK levels reduce to a maximum of 1,000 U/L. [21] Proper treatment will ensure hydration and normalize muscle discomfort (pain), flu-like symptoms, CK levels, and myoglobin levels for patient to begin ExRx.
In adjunct with surgery, refractory muscle contracture can also be treated with Botulinum toxins A and B; however, the effectiveness of the toxin is slowly lost over time, and most patients need a single treatment to correct muscle contracture over the first few weeks after surgery. [21] Shortening of the surgically lengthened muscle can re-occur.