Weakened Muscles – Barriers to Maintaining Mobility

Ever heard the term use it or lose it? Unfortunately, this applies so well to the muscular system. The medical community uses the word atrophy to describe this occurrence. Atrophy is when your muscles lose part or all of their ability to function. This can lead to anything from a decrease in the ability to participate in daily activities to complete immobility.

Atrophy

You can experience atrophy that is widespread throughout your body or concentrated in a specific location. If you have ever had an arm or leg in a cast you understand that when the cast comes off, the injured side is much weaker just due to the fact that the muscles have not been able to flex or hold weight for an extended period of time. This atrophy is caused by disuse and can often be reversed by using the muscles that have been neglected. If the atrophy is caused by a problem such as the nerves that control those muscles no longer functioning, the atrophy may not be able to be reversed.

Let’s look at the loss of bladder control as an example. If a person loses the ability to control their bladder because their pelvic floor is weakened (such as from pregnancy and childbirth or menopause) they may be able to correct the loss of control through specific exercises and changes recommended by their healthcare team. If a person has lost control of their bladder because the muscles in their bladder are no longer receiving messages from the nerves saying when it is an alright time to release urine, then that is less likely to be able to be reversed.

Problems by Muscle Type

Muscular problems can occur in any muscle type: smooth, cardiac or skeletal. When damage occurs to a smooth muscle in our body we often see it effect how part of our body functions. Our earlier bladder example would involve the smooth muscles.

Cardiac muscle is often injured as the result of a blood clot. When oxygen and nutrients are unable to reach the heart muscle that part of the heart is no longer able to contract to pump blood. This leads to a heart attack, the severity of which depends on which part of the heart and how much of the muscle is affected and how quickly the person can receive treatment.

Skeletal muscles commonly experience injury through strains or tears. A muscle strain and tear occurs when either the muscle itself or the tendon that connects that muscle to the bone is stretched too far.

Falls

One of the most common and often debilitating result of muscle weakness is falls. Unfortunately when an older or physically compromised adult experiences a fall they often encounter complications such as bone breaks or injury to their internal organs such as their brain with a head wound. A complication like this can often be the determining factor in loss of quality of life for the individual if they are physically unable to heal back to the shape they were in before.

Fall prevention is an important aspect of maintaining mobility and quality of life as we age. Consistent exercise and good nutrition are great starting points to ensure future mobility. This is an important conversation to have with your healthcare team to determine what is needed for your specific health journey. Recognizing when additional tools, such as walkers are needed and eliminating tripping hazards such as rugs with curled edges in an elders room also help. Tools such as physical therapy can also be extremely helpful in targeting muscles to strengthen and how to move your body in the best way to prevent injury.

Other Causes of Muscle Weakness

Other types of infections or conditions can affect your muscles ability to work. Some are genetic in nature such as muscular dystrophies, these break down skeletal muscles and cause you to become weak. Some are caused by damage to the nerves that control the muscle such as ALS (also known as Lou Gehrig’s Disease), this disease causes the nerves that control your skeletal muscles to break down so that your muscles cannot receive messages from your brain. Others are cause damage to the muscles themselves such as Rhabdomyolosis (a very serious condition where your muscles break down) or autoimmune disorders such as Myasthenia Gravis, this disorder affects the space where your nerves deliver messages to your muscles.