What is calf muscle atrophy?

Muscle atrophy in the calf area is a great threat to health and can cause weakness in the legs. There are many reasons for this phenomenon. In terms of disease, the most important ones are neurogenic muscle atrophy or myogenic muscle atrophy, both of which may cause symptoms of muscle atrophy in the calf area. At this time, corresponding examinations should be carried out in time and rehabilitation exercises should be performed in time.

What is calf muscle atrophy?

1. Neurogenic muscular atrophy

Common causes are disuse, nutritional deficiencies, ischemia, and intoxication. Lesions of the anterior horn, nerve roots, nerve plexuses, and peripheral nerves can all cause conduction disorders of nerve excitation impulses, thereby rendering some muscle fibers useless and causing disuse muscle atrophy. On the other hand, when any part of the lower motor neuron is damaged, the acetylcholine released from its terminals is reduced, the nutritional effect of the sympathetic nerves is weakened, and muscle atrophy occurs.

2. Myogenic muscular atrophy

It is caused by muscle disease itself, and may also include some other factors, such as patients with shoulder girdle or facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy, who are confirmed to have spinal muscular atrophy through morphological examination. Examination of animals with muscular dystrophy using microelectrode technology showed that about one-third of the muscle fibers were functionally denervated. There are two main types of factors that can cause "muscle atrophy": damage to the nerves is called neurogenic muscular atrophy; diseases of the muscles themselves are called myogenic muscular atrophy.

Treatment

1. Standardize rehabilitation exercise therapy

Patients with limb movement disorders caused by muscle atrophy can significantly reduce or alleviate the sequelae of paralysis through regular exercise therapy. Some people mistakenly view exercise therapy as something very simple, or even equate it with "exercise". They are eager for quick results, often getting half the result with twice the effort, and causing joint and muscle injuries, fractures, shoulder and hip pain, increased spasms, abnormal spasm patterns and abnormal gait, as well as foot drop and inversion, which is known as "misuse syndrome". Rehabilitation treatment for the patient's joint range of motion, muscle tone, and coordination between antagonists should not be neglected, lest the patient's muscle strength returns to normal but abnormal movement patterns remain.

2. Emphasize muscle coordination training

Inappropriate muscle strength training can aggravate spasticity, while appropriate rehabilitation training can relieve such spasticity and make limb movements more coordinated. Once the wrong training method is used, such as repeatedly practicing forceful grasping with the affected hand, the flexor coordination of the affected upper limb will be strengthened, aggravating the spasm of the muscles responsible for joint flexion, causing elbow flexion, wrist pronation, and finger flexion deformities, making it more difficult to restore hand function. In fact, muscular atrophy and limb movement disorders are not just a problem of muscle weakness. The incoordination of muscle contraction is also an important cause of movement dysfunction. Therefore, we should not mistake rehabilitation training for strength training.