Muscles Related Diseases and Disorders

What is myasthenia gravis?

It is an autoimmune disorder, in this condition receptors present on the sarcolemma of muscle fiber get damaged which causes weakening and paralytic condition of the skeletal muscle.

What is regor mortis?

The contraction in muscle after death is due to the absence of supply of ATP so once the local stored ATP gets exhausted then the muscle can’t come into the relaxing stage that’s why it becomes twisted and it rests in the same condition at which the person died.

Due to no availability of ATP detachment of myosin from actin can not take place. This is called Regor Mortis. After a long time, it gets relaxed because of muscle starts decaying. This helps in calculating death time for investigation purposes.

What is muscular dystrophy?

The progressive degeneration of muscle is due to the absence of dystrophin protein. It is a type of genetic disorder.

What is shivering?

Shivering is the involuntary contraction of muscles to make the body warm.

It occurs when the body’s temperature is falling down from the normal value for maintaining the body functions in the normal state.

You can observe this condition when there’s cold outside, in the winter season. One can feel the shaking of the body parts, it is because our body is generating heat by this means to keep our body functions in normal condition.

What is tetanic condition?

It occurs to repetitive stimulation of muscles, in this disorder muscle gets sustained in the contract stage without a relaxation period.

It mainly occurs in two diseases

  1. Tetanus: Caused by bacteria
  2. Tetany: Caused because of the low level of calcium in blood

What is paralysis?

Paralysis is the condition that occurs when your body fails to move any body part or whole body. In this condition, a person is unable to do any voluntary muscle movement.

This condition is related to the nervous system of our body, in which the supply of motor nerve impulses gets completely broken and the functions of muscle contraction get completely stopped.

It may be temporary or permanent, reversible or irreversible, partial or complete paralysis, acute (sudden) or chronic depending upon the case, cause, and condition.

The most common causes of paralysis are:

  • Strokes (disruption in the blood supply)
  • Brain injury
  • Spinal cord injuries
  • Motor neuron diseases (MNDs)
  • Multiple sclerosis (MS)
  • Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS) – It is a rare neurological disorder in which the body’s immune system mistakenly attacks their own parts of the peripheral nervous system
  • Cerebral palsy (most common motor disability in childhood)
  • Genetical disorders (muscular distrophy, …)

Types of paralysis and their specific location:

Quadriplegia (tetraplegia): It is paralysis of body parts from the down of the neck. It is caused when all four limbs get paralyzed, sometimes along with certain internal organs.

Monoplegia: It is a kind of paralysis that affects just one limb, like in an arm or leg, and occurs either in the upper or lower limb.

Diplegia: It is a type of paralysis that usually affects symmetrical parts like in the same area on both sides, like both arms, legs, or both sides of your face.

Hemiplegia: This condition is caused due to brain damage or spinal cord injury which leads to paralysis. It affects just one side of your body and is usually caused due to stroke, which damages one side of your brain.

Locked-in syndrome (LIS) or pseudocoma: It is the rarest and most severe form of paralysis. In this condition, the patient is aware but loses control of all their muscles except for vertical eye movements and blinking.

Paraplegia: A spinal cord injury that paralyzes the lower limbs or parts present down the waist.

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