Muscle Atrophy

Definition

Definition of Muscle Atrophy
Muscle atrophy, or disuse atrophy, is defined as a decrease in the mass of the muscle; it can be a partial or complete wasting away of muscle. When a muscle atrophies, this leads to muscle weakness, since the ability to exert force is related to mass. Muscle atrophy results from a co-morbidity of several common diseases, including cancer, AIDS, congestive heart failure, COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease), renal failure, and severe burns; patients who have "cachexia" in these disease settings have a poor prognosis. Moreover, starvation eventually leads to muscle atrophy. Disuse of the muscles will also lead to atrophy.

Symptoms

Symptoms of Muscle Atrophy
Muscle atrophy may accompany other symptoms that vary depending on the underlying disease, disorder or condition. Symptoms that frequently affect the muscles may also involve other body systems.

Causes

Causes of Muscle Atrophy
Some muscle atrophy occurs normally with aging. Other causes may include:

1. Alcohol associated myopathy
2. Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS or Lou Gehrig's disease)
3. Burns
4. Dermatomyositis and polymyositis
5. Guillain-Barre syndrome
6. Injury
7. Long-term corticosteroid therapy
8. Long-term immobilization
9. Motor neuropathy (such as diabetic neuropathy)
10. Muscular dystrophy
11. Osteoarthritis
12. Polio
13. Rheumatoid arthritis
14. Severe malnutrition
15. Spinal cord injury
16. Stroke

Diagnosis

Diagnosis of Muscle Atrophy
Consult with your doctor.

Treatment

Treatment of Muscle Atrophy
Muscle atrophy can be opposed by the signaling pathways which induce muscle hypertrophy, or an increase in muscle size. Therefore one way in which exercise induces an increase in muscle mass is to downregulate the pathways which have the opposite effect.

One important rehabilitation tool for muscle atrophy includes the use of functional electrical stimulation to stimulate the muscles. This has seen a large amount of success in the rehabilitation of paraplegic patients.

Since the absence of muscle-building amino acids can contribute to muscle wasting (that which is torn down must be rebuilt with like material), amino acid therapy may be helpful for regenerating damaged or atrophied muscle tissue. The branched-chain amino acids or BCAAs (leucine, isoleucine, and valine) are critical to this process, in addition to lysine and other amino acids.

In severe cases of muscular atrophy, the use of an anabolic steroid such as methandrostenolone is administered to patients as a potential cure.

Prognosis

Prognosis of Muscle Atrophy
Consult with your doctor.

Prevention

Prevention of Muscle Atrophy
Consult with your doctor.