Muscle atrophy

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Active vs. inactive muscle

Muscular atrophy

Muscle atrophy refers to the wasting or loss of muscle tissue resulting from disease or lack of use.

Muscle wasting; Wasting; Atrophy of the muscles

The majority of muscle atrophy in the general population results from disuse. People with sedentary jobs and senior citizens with decreased activity can lose muscle tone and develop significant atrophy. This type of atrophy is 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.

Muscle atrophy resulting from disease rather than disuse is generally one of two types, that resulting from damage to the nerves that supply the muscles, and disease of the muscle itself.

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.

Examples of diseases affecting primarily the muscles would include muscular dystrophy, myotonia congenita, and myotonic dystrophy as well as other congenital, inflammatory, or metabolic myopathies (muscle diseases).

Even minor muscle atrophy usually results in some loss of mobility or power.

• some atrophy that occurs normally with aging
• cerebrovascular accident (stroke)
• spinal cord injury
• peripheral nerve injury ( peripheral neuropathy )
• other injury
• prolonged immobilization
• osteoarthritis
• rheumatoid arthritis
• prolonged corticosteroid therapy
• diabetes ( diabetic neuropathy )
• burns
• poliomyelitis
• amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS or Lou Gehrig's disease)
• Guillain-Barre syndrome
• muscular dystrophy
• myotonia congenita
• myotonic dystrophy
• myopathy

Review Date: 07/28/2005
Reviewed By: Kevin Sheth, M.D., Department of Neurology, Brigham and Women's Hospital and Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA. Review provided by VeriMed Healthcare Network.