Definition
Muscle hypotrophy consists in reducing the volume of muscle tissue, which causes weakness or partial loss of motor function.
This phenomenon can be caused by several factors, including nutrient deficiency or reduced mobility. The latter can represent the complication of various pathologies in which structural damage and prolonged inactivity occur; the progressive decrease in muscle mass occurs, for example, in the case of prolonged immobilization secondary to bone fractures or other painful traumas and affections, such as arthritis and arthrosis.
Furthermore, muscular hypotrophy may be due to a muscle disease (myopathy) or to a neurological disorder. Possible causes include Duchenne dystrophy, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, and spinal cord injuries.
Muscle hypotrophy can also result from chronic diseases that cause marked weight loss, therefore it can be observed in the context of hepatic and renal insufficiency, malignant tumors and heart failure. In such contexts, the hypotrophy is generalized and is associated with hypotonia.
Possible Causes * of Muscular Hypotrophy
- Achondroplasia
- Arthritis
- Rheumatoid arthritis
- Arthrosis
- Spinal Muscular Atrophy
- Beriberi
- Liver Cirrhosis
- Duchenne dystrophy
- Stroke
- Heart failure
- Kidney failure
- Myasthenia gravis
- Parkinson's disease
- Diabetic neuropathy
- osteochondrosis
- Rheumatic polymyalgia
- Polio
- Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis
- Multiple sclerosis
- Heart failure
- Syringomyelia
- Spina bifida
- thymoma
- Spinal cord tumors
- Burns
