Definition
Muscle atrophy refers to the wasting or loss of muscle tissue resulting from disease or lack of use.
Other Names
Muscle wasting; Wasting; Atrophy of the muscles
Considerations
There are two types of muscle atrophy.
Disuse atrophy occurs from a lack of physical exercise. The majority of muscle atrophy in the general population results from disuse. Persons with sedentary jobs, with medical conditions that limit movement, or who have decreased activity levels can lose muscle tone and develop atrophy. This type of atrophy can be reversible with vigorous exercise.
Bed-ridden people can undergo significant muscle wasting. Astronauts, free of the gravitational pull of Earth, can develop decreased muscle tone and loss of calcium from their bones following just a few days of weightlessness.
The most severe type of muscle atrophy is neurogenic atrophy. It occurs when there is injury or disease to a nerve. This type of muscle atrophy tends to occur more suddenly than disuse atrophy.
Examples of diseases affecting the nerves that control muscles would be poliomyelitis (polio) , amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS or Lou Gehrig's disease), and Guillain-Barre syndrome .
Even minor muscle atrophy usually results in some loss of mobility or power.
Causes
Some atrophy occurs normally with aging. Other causes may include:
Home Care
An exercise program (under the direction of a therapist or doctor) is recommended along with whirlpool baths and other types of rehabilitation.
Exercises using braces or splints are recommended for those who cannot actively move one or more joints.
When to Contact a Medical Professional
Call your doctor for an appointment if you have unexplained or prolonged loss of muscle.
At your Health Care Provider
The doctor will perform a physical examination and ask questions about your medical history and symptoms, including
- When did the muscle atrophy begin?
- Is it getting worse?
- What nerve or muscle is affected?
- What other symptoms do you have?
The doctor will look at your arms and legs and measure muscle size.
Tests that may be performed include:
Treatment may include ultrasound therapy and, in some cases, surgery to correct a contracture .
I have some very long term atrophy in my right leg.. since childhood in some degree due to wearing a brace for 18 months that caused inactivity. plus the following surgeries that further reduced muscle mass in my right leg.... Now, following these last two rough years w/ RA I know i have more atrophy... I am no where NEAR as strong as I had been previous to my flare in 07.
I am feeling better and would like to work out and get back some of my atrophied muscle mass which you can do! I dont' know how to go about it..
I am continuing to read on the net but is there anyone who has gone through PT for that? or has any ideas/solutions to help this feat along?
thanks!!!
Last year I had Muscle atrophy bad all over my body. My husband found it hard to look at me naked as I had lost so much weight my body looked like an old ladys. After going on MTX and prednisone my muscles have plumped back up and I am so much stronger than before. I just started enbrel last week. I am slowly starting to exercise again. Gardening, riding my stationary bike and my stepper.
What meds do you take for your RA?
Have you ever seen those little portable cycles you can put under your desk and peddle? You can also put them on low table (coffee table) and work your upper body. I have greatly strengthened and improved my muscle tone in my upper body with one. The down side is, they are made cheaply, and don't last long!! I bought the "Stamina InStride cycle" from Amazon.com. There are some more expensive models on the website that I am tempted to try. Anyway, it is great exercise for biceps, triceps, shoulders, and back! Oh I'm sorry for asking what meds you take. It is written right below your post. that's okay Aleva...
The bike for desktop is an EXCELLENT idea.. I dont' think I can lift much as far as weights yet.. without hurting my joints that is...
I'll look into that equipment at Amazon.. I'm a premium member and I hope it's free shipping!!!!
I haven't started on my bike yet.... I've been walking.. and I have to renew my Y membership for the pool.....
I need to do this...
Babs, I've had the same problem over the last 10 years. I thought that the muscles in my legs had wasted but boy was I wrong. I was a runner for years until RA and had developed great leg muscles and I really thought they were shot until I had my knee replacement. The surgeon said that I did so well after surgery because of my leg muscles being in such excellent shape!!! I golfed about 7 weeks after surgery. Sometimes what we think and the reality aren't the same. We just need some fine tuning.
Because of I thought I was wasting I went to Curves and it was the worst exercise mistake I've ever made. Because of the pressure on the joints I flared in every joint of my body and ended up back on Pred. I've learned from experience that water exercise and 3 and 5 lb. weight use, and walking are my best exercises. Right now I'm working on my upper arms. I've lost some weight and my wings are flapping and I don't like it.
The desktop bike sounds pretty interesting. I'm going to do an internet search on it. Might be something I can use when we're traveling in the RV. Lindy
Curves is not a good place for ANYONE but particularly for anyone who needs to make accomadations for injury or illness
Babs-reistance bands are great for someone with RA, so are core balls. The muscle wasting can be reversed it just takes patience. WhenI first started working out I had zero muscle tone but now I am much much better and definitly can tell a difference in how I move
What makes you say you have atrophy of muscles? I'm weak too.
With my really bad feet, I cannot do anything requiring them, my shoulders hurt and my hands can't grip well. Excuses excuses... I should get myself to take out 2hrs a day to go over to the healthclub and use the indoor pool and oops, I'm embarrassed to say that I've gotten lax about my pilates ball. Emotions are my problem; all this bankruptcy paperwork, trying to slowly give away my possessions and having no dog for comfort... not to mention all the medical issues sure makes me want to just stay home. again... excuses excuses... shame on me; there are people so much worse off.
Anyway, back to my question; I know I am weak, but how can one tell if there is actually muscle atrophy?
This is for all of us who are trying to exercise........
I feel like my body has gotten totally out of shape,
So I got my doctor's permission to
join a fitness club and start exercising.
I decided to take an aerobics class for seniors.
I bent, twisted, gyrated, jumped up and down, and perspired for an hour. But,
By the time I got my leotards on, the class was over. actually loss of strength is a sign that the muscles are beginning to waste. You can also note a shrinking in the muscles..this is generally most noticable in your calf and quad muscles in your legs. One of the added benefits of exercise is that it helps with depression and stress Lindy... that was so funny you could put it on the Humor post!
It's true for me too, although it's a bathing suit, water shoes, mask/snorkle, kickboard, webbed gloves. I need the shoes for my bad feet, mask/snorkle for not struggling to breathe, gloves -RD thought it might strengthen hands, board because bad shoulders don't let my arms go up and over, although every other lap, I leave it to do that frogkick method(breaststroke?). My fav is going next to big hottub for other exercises done in-place. Then I hobble back to dressing room, dress (really hard to get out of a wet swimsuit), drive back home, shampoo the chlorine out and dress again. It takes me 2 hours for the 30-40min in the pools.... that's a huge chunk out of my day. I don't dare plan to join a class with a regimented time... I can't be sure I get there in time and it's embarrassing to leave partway. So, I just do my own thing at my own time preference. If I can get myself over there.
LinB.. maybe all I need is some fine tuning... I was a walker - easily doing miles and miles and miles without a thought.... and some hiking but the knees were not happy about that... and did low impact aerobics like it was my religion.. I have done so poorly for the last 7 years I 'm ashamed!!
I'm going to get back to the Y... walk my neighborhoods in the evenings...... and do my walk on the treadmill when it's bad weather...... and this hand bike thing: I used something like it in PT! (PT set off my biggest flare: kneeling on a padded table.. believe that? sheesh) I ordered it...
I know I have atrophy in my right thigh... It is thinner and weaker than my left and was told by a doctor.. I also had a horrible knot in the glute muscle at the top of that leg.. because the damned brace I had to wear ended right there..... ugh.. what a horrible mess my old body is!!
when I get it together.. I will show the before and afters and we can ALL chuckle !!!
CathyMarie... you are so right.. It is a chore and an exercise just to get into and out of that swim suit!! I do two pieces for that reason!! my tankini w/ skirt....
I have the shoes with resistance.. but I've not been able to wear them for a full workout... it really does resist!
Bands!! they are great ideas, buckeye...... and cheap!!
I have the bands from my many months of PT post-shoulder surgeries. I put them around the doorknobs(back+front) or stand on them. Since I cannot grip well, I use an unopened can of evaporated milk(fatter than soup) as a weight for other shoulder/arm exercises. I'd have a free workout with those, pilates ball, and walking if only I didn't have such bad bad feet and painful hips. The substitue for walking for me is the pool... to get my blood pumping all over! Good luck to all of us!!
Cathy you can use the bands in the water also...I wholeheartedly suggest starting off in an arthritis water class to get started - I did and now I'm doing aerobic workouts (but have to adapt some to my abilities) both in water and on land (though I do like the water best!)
I just went thru the program sponsored by the Arthritis Foundation to become certified to teach arthritis water exercise -- I'm doing it as a payback -- for I'm so grateful that their program "brought me back to life" and will be teaching on a volunteer substitute basis. After inactivity, we have to start out easy and work our way back up -- but it can be done. Good luck.[QUOTE=babs10]
I am concerned about this. I feel that I have lost alot of strength in recent years due to RA, lack of use, etc.
I have some very long term atrophy in my right leg.. since childhood in some degree due to wearing a brace for 18 months that caused inactivity. plus the following surgeries that further reduced muscle mass in my right leg.... Now, following these last two rough years w/ RA I know i have more atrophy... I am no where NEAR as strong as I had been previous to my flare in 07.
I am feeling better and would like to work out and get back some of my atrophied muscle mass which you can do! I dont' know how to go about it..
I am continuing to read on the net but is there anyone who has gone through PT for that? or has any ideas/solutions to help this feat along?
thanks!!!
[/QUOTE]
Babs - I have a similar problem like you, but it is in both my legs. I have never been able to gain much muscle mass in my thighs. They have always been mushy, and flabby. Even when I was a kid and as a kid I was a really scrawny girl. I use to ride my bike everyday for hours and hours a day when I was a kid. I use to do a lot of things you would think would tone up thighs. I use to swim in a swimming pool from the time I woke up and until dinner time. I swam so much that my light brown hair turned blond and then green. I was only 3 years old. To this day... I have NEVER been able to gain much muscle mass in my thighs no matter how much thigh exercises I done or how much walking I done.
When I was a toddler I had to wear half-casts on both my legs when I would sleep. It was to help me get mobile again after being asleep. I would sleep in the fetal position and well it was really hard to get my stiff joints straightened and moving again when I slept like that.
I too have noticed muscle wasting. Just walking down our long drive and across to the street to get our mail I notice fatigue in my thigh muscles. I have been planning on doing 30 mins. walks on my lunch hr. but now I know I'm not up to it. I always had a very muscular legs but now they are like grape jelly- yuck.
I say that RA doesn't keep me from doing things- but I don't really take into account all the things I avoid because I'm no longer up to them. I am very very inactive and that is a very bad thing.
wantto.. maybe a 15 minute walk? then a 20? and on?
IDK what I will be able to do at one time... I will wear my pedometer (If I can find where I put the darn thing!!
Maybe i can do my yoga at night... while listening to Pema Chondra (sp?) CD.
interesting, Joonie.... you poor little one... at age two having such issues...
At least the frogs, chipmunks, and squirrels are enjoying it.
I was trying to talk them into filling the pool in. FIL is all for it, but MIL does not want to.
joonie2009-06-15 00:17:45Of course RA causes some wasting of the muscles. I was very active. I worked hard. I noticed some wasting well before I could get an RA dx. It was not from being lazy. But I believe we can keep from totally wasting away.
My stupid appiontment with the physical medicine doctor. They want to fit me for braces all over my body and teach me to take it easy. Some big man with an evil voice. Like they are going to scare me or hypnotize me into being a vegatable. Just because I have so many different things that cause pain and the different meds don't jive together. Sure I have the knee braces and the carpul tunnel braces, la la ect. A walking stick. I use them when times are tuff. Tieing me up and sticking me in the corner is not going to eleviate pain. How deppressing.
The Lyrica messed me up. Gave me insomnia super bad. Then my hands flared. Well guess what I have RA. So they had told me to take two flexerils a day before my appiontment when I had asked over the phone for prednisone. So they saw me and put me on prednisone. I had quit taking the Lyrica but it must of still been in my system when I started the pred. I didn't sleep at all for three days. Had not been sleeping for along time before that. I was in very bad shape. Mentally and physically.
So they said we are not going to give you medicine for fibro it does not mix well with anti inflamatory medication. I said, You think?
I have been on prednisone for the past two weeks and the results are much better. My feet feel better also. So I live in a safe quiet nieghborhood. I can walk all I want to. Then go home and stretch and moan in privacy. No stairs. Going to do the biologics. Finally now that the bones are all sticking out on my feet and hands they believe me. Of course I am RF positive and anti-ccp positive. I have Sjorgrens. I tend to confuse the heck out of doctors. Because my hands are not always real bad. My GP has seen my hands really bad but they got better. Now I have boney growths and that was enough. Of course my hands are swelling. I got that prednisone in the nick of time. My left thumb is always catching and popping and when flaring it feels like it is broken. My right middle finger always looks bigger then the one on the left. That has been my humble opinion. My pinky finger used to have a nodule but it got better. I would not be surprised if it pops up here shortly. Piont being that middle finger grew a boney lump. LMAO I am on a diagnostic course of prednisone. However I quit taking next week. I have been told I will be getiing put back on it shortly after I quit taking it. They had me fill a big bottle. I will send you all a picture of my feet sometime and I think it will make you all really mad.
I thought it was so rediculas I didn't tell you that the doctors have been screaming at me lately telling me I just have Sjorgrens and fibro. Yep I was in shock. Once or twice I wondered if maybe I am just crazy and these changes in my body are just body morfasims of my imagination? Would that be grand. I could buy the story that Sjorgrens was causing the swelling but not the bone changes. What pray tell could cause tendenitis that lasted fifteen years and a shot only made it feel a bit better for two or three weeks tops? Everytime I googled i came up with RA. Well a boney bump the size of a tick tack on my fat middle finger wins the prize. I quit taking the prednisone in january and life has been so hard. I am a true whimp and a whiner as I am sure you have all noticed. I have not been on any RA meds scince the beginning of March. I had a script from one doctor that said I did not have RA but he gave me the script anyway. The doctor at Mayo asked me not to fill it. It has been misserable and frustrating and taken a bit of bravery that I did not think I had. Then suddenly the doctor thinks all of my fingers feel like they have RA when not even a month before he said you do not have RA. You have to have it in your hands. I assured him that I did indeed get swelling in my hands and the way they were feelling it would not be long. Bitter sweet victory. I would much rather be crazy. That would be less deppressing they have pills for that.
Back on topic. Yes RA causes muscle atrophy. I get more swelling in my muscles and tendons then I do in my joints. I notice wasting before my eyes during bad flares. But I can usually get some of the strenth back from exercising.
Milly, what the hell, woman....I thought you were doing better, boy was I wrong. What exactly did the doc at Mayo tell you? I'm sorry that Lyrica didn't work out for you. When it works, it's great. When are they going to start RA meds of some type? I'm so sorry this has been such a horrible time for you. You said in another post that you're in your own apt. and that's great. You have some downtime from everything and everybody. Tell us more about the guy next door. Lindy
QUOTE: wantto.. maybe a 15 minute walk? then a 20? and on?
IDK what I will be able to do at one time... I will wear my pedometer (If I can find where I put the darn thing!!
Yes- I need to start out slow and if it ever gets done raining around here maybe I'll go out and try!
I have a pedometer too- someone at work got one from Jenny Craig and I asked her to pick one up for me. I was so depressed to learn how little I am walking around! They say you should walk 10,000 steps a day and I was at like 2000! Plus I had it hooked onto my underwear because I wear dresses to work and I noticed I was getting extra steps when I pulled them up & down to use the ladies room!
I found out I really am sedentary...
[QUOTE=joonie]
I have a swimming pool and was going to try the swimming this summer for exercise. BUT... the pool is not ready. It is still green. It was not green when they first uncovered it back in March. Which MIL said was too early. And once it was uncovered that was that. They are trying to get it straightened out and all, but it is already middle of June, and well.... it is a bit late in the summer to try to get it ready. But MIL is still trying to get it cleared up.
At least the frogs, chipmunks, and squirrels are enjoying it.
I was trying to talk them into filling the pool in. FIL is all for it, but MIL does not want to.
[/QUOTE]
you need TONS of super shock..... and it will still take days to work.. run filter.. shock.. shock and more shock...... good luck.
we had a
Fluorescent green pool this year too! The cover had ripped over the winter and it was a mass of leaves. It took a lot of shock and filter running to get it right.
Yeah... they are doing a lot of shock and running of the pump for days in and out and putting fresh water in. Hubby told me today that MIL is trying to get it cleared up before the 4th of July. So... more money she is going to waste. At least she will not be wasting as much on it as she did last year that was some major cash she forked out and then no one hardly used the pool.
The rain is what is messing them up. The PH is out of whack so when they put those chemicals in it, then it rained for another 3-4 days and then she has to go buy something else and get the pool water retested at the pool place.
yep.. rain causes havock with pools....LinB LOL The guy next door is very nice. He is not my boyfriend. I do have a boyfriend. They are both very nice people. Actually I moved here to be closer to my boyfriend. He was just on vacation last week in Nashville. I told him not to worry about me the nieghbor was taking very good care of me. He came home a day early. Hmmm I wonder why?that's funny, Milly...... keep 'em on their toes, eh?
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