Violation of muscle tone. Muscle tone in a child: why does it occur and how to treat? How to determine muscle tone

Muscle tone is the involuntary tension of our muscles. This process is ongoing. Our consciousness and will do not control it.

Have you ever wondered how muscles tense? What controls them? If muscle tone is in normal condition, then we do not notice it. This is our usual state, which does not cause any discomfort. Despite the fact that we do not attach importance to this, the tone exists.

This is an important characteristic of our muscular system. It affects the condition of all organs and systems. Without it, we will not be able to move, walk, or even stand normally.

An important function of the skeletal muscles is to maintain their working condition. They must be in full readiness at all times, regardless of whether we are sleeping or awake. And reflexively, the tone of the muscular system helps us maintain a certain position of our body.

What is normal and what is deviation?

What is the difference between tonic muscle tension and regular muscle tension? If the voltage is arbitrary, then a number of muscle fibers.

Imagine that each fiber is a light bulb that lights up. During voluntary tension, the entire muscle will look like a bright fiery beam. But in the case of tonic tension, it will already resemble a sky strewn with stars. Do you notice the difference?

In the second case, the fibers will not start working all at once, but one by one: some are tense, while others are resting. Thanks to this efficiency, the fibers can last a very long time. When distributing tonic tension, the sensitivity of muscles and joints plays a decisive role.

Studies have shown that muscle tone can vary greatly between different people. Even for one person, this indicator will change at different points in his life. For example, when we sleep, our tone is reduced. During mental or physical work it will increase, and during rest and rest it will decrease again. With reduced tone, performance is lost, but high tone will interfere with productive work.

It is interesting that muscle tone can affect a person’s state of mind. As it turns out, when our tone changes, our emotions also undergo changes. Reducing it can calm a person and even put him to sleep. But mentally controlling this indicator is quite difficult.

Hypertonicity - about causes and consequences

If the muscles are in pathologically high tone, this may be signaled by the following signs:

their density increased;
does not leave the feeling of tension;
you feel tightness;
movements are constrained;
you feel muscle fatigue;
the rate of muscle growth has slowed down;
appear frequently muscle spasms with acute pain.

There are two types of hypertonicity:

. On different groups muscle tone is impaired in different ways.
Muscle stiffness. The tone is equally high in all muscle groups.

Why does hypertension appear?

Most often, this pathology is associated with impaired activity nervous system. It is from it that signals come, after which the muscles relax or tense. It is she who controls their tone. Increased muscle tone can appear for various reasons:

cardiovascular diseases (they damage the central nervous system);
congenital neurological pathology;
the brain or spinal cord was damaged due to injury;
the person has demyelinating diseases.

And the tone may also depend on the psychological state. Our central nervous system often perceives various kinds of shocks and stress as a potential threat, and activates muscle tone. They slightly affect the tone and weather conditions. In warm weather, the muscles are relaxed, and the cold provokes their tension.

Types of muscle tone disorders

Violations muscle tone:

Muscle tone is observed in most newborns. At first, this is normal. It is due to the fact that after the fetal position the baby must get used to the new body position. Do not be alarmed if your baby is diagnosed with muscular dystonia.

Tone is an important characteristic of the state of the child’s nervous system and his general condition. Disturbances can be a symptom of serious pathologies of the central nervous system, spinal cord and brain. For example, dystonia always accompanies increased intracranial pressure.

Violations of tone can provoke delays in physical and mental development. Such babies later begin to crawl, sit, and walk.

Therefore, it is worth showing the baby to a neurologist. A special risk group is considered to be babies born prematurely, caesarean babies, and low-weight babies.

The consequences of tone disorders for children can be different:

Posture and gait may deteriorate, and sometimes clubfoot appears;
hypertonicity can later turn into hyperexcitability, the child will be inattentive, does not study well, and will begin to show aggression;
hypotonia leads to physical and psychological lethargy, apathy, physical inactivity, obesity, and developmental delays.

It is important that parents monitor the child's condition. For the first months, it is normal for the baby to remain in the fetal position. The newborn may experience increased muscle tension. Physiological tone is normal for them. That's why you shouldn't leave even a newborn on the changing table unattended. He can actively move his legs, arms and even roll over.

Parents should be wary if:

the newborn's hips are separated by more than 90 degrees, this is a symptom;
when spreading your child’s hips, you feel excessive resistance, this is a symptom of hypertonicity;
a symptom of a tone disorder is an unnatural posture of the child in the crib. With pathology, it can shrink into a lump or, conversely, spread out like a frog;
the child eats poorly, cries for no reason, throwing his head back;
convulsions and fever are observed;
The baby doesn't gurgle or smile.

You can’t swaddle your baby tightly, even at night. With such swaddling, the baby is in a very unnatural position. Doctors have noticed that babies who are not swaddled tightly are less likely to have tone disorders and neurological problems.

If correction of tone is still required, then therapeutic massage is most often prescribed. It is prescribed to babies after one and a half months age.

Drug therapy is used infrequently. Specific treatment will depend on the causes. Don't be afraid of a massage.

The main thing is that it should be performed by an experienced and qualified children's massage therapist. A good professional massage normalizes muscle tone, improves blood circulation, and stabilizes the functioning of the nervous system.

It is useful to do simple exercises for your child:

Stroke his back and arms. The lumbar region should not be touched.
Massage your palms, heels, toes and arms. Movements should not be strong or abrupt.
After three months the baby can do more difficult exercises. They can be selected by a physical therapy specialist.

To correct muscle tone, baths with herbs (soothing tea, motherwort, chamomile) and sea salt will be useful.

Diagnostic tests

Special diagnostic tests will help determine the state of tone. The first examination of the baby is carried out in the maternity hospital. Then parents should show the baby to an orthopedist or neurologist every six months. Parents themselves can perform some manipulations for such diagnostics:

Spreading the hips. The baby is lying on his back. You push his thighs apart without any effort. The norm is moderate resistance. When the tone is low, it is completely absent, and when it is high, it is too strong. A healthy baby should spread his legs 45 degrees on each side.
We sit the baby by the arms. The baby lies on his back. Pull the baby's wrists as if you want to sit him down. The norm is slight resistance to extension of the elbows. If the tone is low, there will be no resistance; if the tone is high, it will be excessive.
Step reflex and support reflex. Holding it under the armpits, place the baby on the changing table. When encouraging you to take a step, slightly tilt it forward. Normal - the child stands and rests on his entire foot, his toes are straightened. When bending forward, the baby should not cross his legs; he imitates the process of walking. But after 1.5 months this reflex fades away. But with hypertension it lasts longer. Symptoms of hypertonicity: curled fingers, crossed legs. Symptoms of muscle hypotonicity in infants: steps on excessively bent legs (you must hold the baby under your arms), squatting or refusal to walk.

Therapy methods

As already mentioned, in case of tone disorders, professional therapeutic massage is often prescribed, and less often, drug therapy. Most often, a neurologist prescribes a course of relaxing massage (10 professional sessions, which are repeated again after six months).

Also applies:

special therapeutic exercises;
electrophoresis;
swimming;
relaxing baths with herbs (sage, valerian, motherwort, chamomile, soothing tea, pine needles) or sea salt;
in more complex cases, medications are prescribed (vascular drugs, nootropics, diuretics).

Important: pediatricians have recently agreed that jumpers and walkers can cause harm muscular system the child and the entire musculoskeletal system. In them, the force of gravity is distributed unevenly. This leads to excessive stress on the spine and pelvis, muscle tension, and the child gets used to not fully standing on his foot.

Remember that as you reach middle age, muscle tone may decline. It won't hurt to do therapeutic exercises or moderate loads in gym. Remember that the general condition of your body, performance and emotional state directly depends on muscle tone!

Muscle tone is essentially the degree of muscle elasticity and resistance that accompanies passive flexion or extension of the limbs. Muscle tone is determined by various factors. First of all, it depends on the state of the muscles, peripheral nerve fibers and impulses. The ability of muscles to contract when overcoming a certain load is an important indicator of human health. It is absolutely normal that even in a relaxed state, the muscles are in some tension. As a result of diseases and damage to the nervous system, muscle tone may change. This or that type of violation leads to its decrease or increase. In accordance with this, hypo- and hypertonicity of muscles are distinguished.

Increased muscle tone can be:

spastic;
rigid.

A distinctive feature of the spastic appearance is unevenness and selectivity. The cause of its occurrence is disturbances that affect the components of the pyramidal system. In this case, we are talking about a chain of neurons, the main task of which is to transmit motor commands addressed to skeletal muscles. Due to the fact that the central neuron in this system is damaged, spastic hypertonicity develops. Making movements of a passive nature occurs with difficulty, but this is typical for the very beginning of the action. In the future, these manipulations are performed quite easily. When making movements in fast pace such symptoms are more noticeable. Since there is damage to the motor center of the brain, the disorder affects not just one muscle, but a combination of them, for example, a group of foot flexors/extensors. This is precisely where the selective and uneven nature of this type of hypertonicity is manifested. Factors due to which it can occur include strokes, brain injuries, various nervous system disorders, meningitis, sclerosis, hypoxia, phenylketonuria and other diseases.

Rigid increased muscle tone is also called plastic. It manifests itself when the extrapyramidal nervous system is affected. This system includes brain structures and nerve pathways that are directly involved in both the regulation and control of motor manipulations. As a result of this, a motor reaction is organized when laughing or crying, a certain posture in space is maintained, and so on. A distinctive feature of the rigid variety is that the difficulty in performing passive motor manipulations is permanent, resulting in spasms of all muscles. The limbs freeze in the positions they were given. In some cases, damaged pyramidal and extrapyramidal systems can lead to a mixed type of hypertonicity. As a rule, the cause of this pathology is brain tumors.

Reasons for increased muscle tone

Muscle hypertonicity in adults is not in all cases associated with pathology, characteristic feature which is the persistence of its increase. Sometimes it is associated with physiological reasons:

Tired, tense muscles. When performing work for a long period of time, the muscles lose energy, which leads to the freezing of the muscle fiber in a contracted state.
The duration of being in an uncomfortable or monotonous position. Since in such a situation the entire load is associated with a certain type of muscle, spasms occur, as with overexertion. Very often, the appearance of such a spasm in the neck muscles is observed in people who sit at the computer for a long time. Hypertonicity of the back muscles in adults is often found in those who work in the garden for a long time.
A protective reaction to pain. In this case we are talking about the emergence pain syndrome, spastic hypertonicity as a peculiar reaction, for example, damage to the spine leads to spasm of the corresponding muscles.
Bruises, lumbar pain. In the presence of pathologies of the spinal column, increased pain is observed.

Muscle hypertonicity syndrome accompanies many different diseases. For example, it can be observed when:

acute cerebral circulatory disorders, which leads to ischemic and hemorrhagic stroke;
tumors of both the spinal cord and brain;
traumatic brain injuries;
spastic form of torticollis;
bruxism;
dystonic syndrome;
hepatic encephalopathy;
infections of the central nervous system;
multiple sclerosis.

If such a condition is a deviation for an adult, then for a newborn it is within the normal range. This is due to the position of the baby in the womb. Prolonged intrauterine stay in the fetal position is accompanied by close contact of the limbs, chin and torso, which leads to muscle tension in the fetus. Clenched fists bent legs, throwing back the head - all these are signs of hypertonicity of a month-old baby.

The persistence of muscle tension at six months of age is a serious reason to contact a qualified specialist.

Symptoms and treatment

Like any disease, muscle hypertonicity has its own symptoms. Increased muscle tone in adults is characterized by:

tension, lack of mobility;
discomfort when moving;
muscle stiffness;
spontaneous active movements;
increased tendon reflexes;
a slow process of relaxation of muscles that have undergone spasm.

In addition, hypertonicity calf muscles in adults it manifests itself by walking on tiptoes. This indicates the advanced nature of the disease with childhood. The occurrence of cramps is directly related to the tension of a muscle. With any mechanical impact, a person experiences severe pain. Hypertonicity of the leg muscles in adults as a result of prolonged tension leads to impaired blood circulation and the formation of painful compactions.

Hypertonicity in newborns is characterized by:

restless, short sleep;
the pressed state of the upper and lower limbs;
tilted head position;
resistance accompanying attempts to separate the baby’s upper and lower limbs;
painful reaction to various stimuli, such as light;
frequent regurgitation.

If you have the described signs of increased muscle tone, you should consult a doctor: a therapist or a neurologist. Rapid achievement of positive treatment results is ensured by timely contact with a specialist. At the first stage of treatment, the underlying disease that provoked the increase in muscle tone is overcome. The second stage is corrective and aimed at facilitating therapy.

Treatment of muscle hypertonicity can be carried out using:

relaxing massage;
physical therapy;
electrophoresis;
paraffin applications;
swimming;
drug treatment.

The main purpose of drug treatment is to minimize pain and normalize the functioning of the central nervous system. In each specific case drug therapy may be related to:

relief of symptoms;
reduction of spasmodic phenomena;
facilitating motor activity.

Similar goals are achieved with the use of muscle relaxants and antipsychotics.

Timely diagnosis of muscle hypertonicity, compliance with the treatment prescribed by the doctor, regular physical exercise will help overcome the disease short time and reduce the risk of possible complications.

Normal muscle contractility ensures the harmonious physical and mental development of the child. Muscle tone in a baby can be physiological and pathological. Physiological conditions include increased muscle tone in the first weeks after birth. Next, the tone should return to normal. If a child still has increased muscle tone two weeks after birth, this phenomenon is called hypertonicity and belongs to the category of pathological conditions.

Hypertonicity of the muscles of a newborn is an understandable phenomenon. Inside the womb, the child was in a constrained state. His limbs were tightly pressed to his body, there was no room for movement.

After birth, the baby's body gradually gets used to new conditions. During the first two weeks, the muscles gradually relax, and the limbs return to a new state. However, if the baby has central nervous system lesions of varying severity, the brain will not be able to fully control muscle activity. In this case, the condition of the muscles will deviate from normal.

The persistence of hypertonicity during the first month of life should be a reason to examine the child by a neurologist.

Age norms

The following development of the situation is considered normal.

Pathology can be suspected from birth. Problems with the central nervous system are often expressed in muscle hypertonicity syndrome. In such children, all movements are constrained, the abduction of the lower extremities is no more than 45 degrees. The arms and legs are firmly pressed to the body, and the fingers cannot be unclenched.

What should you be wary of?

Hypertonicity syndrome interferes with the further development of the child, the formation of joints and ligaments is disrupted. Persistence of the condition can lead to impairment of motor skills, motor activity, and the formation of the spine and posture.

If after the first month of life the baby’s muscle hypertonicity persists, in the future he will have the following signs.

The child behaves restlessly, sleeps poorly, wakes up in less than an hour and often cries.
The baby spits up profusely after every meal.
During sleep, the child arches his back and throws his head back. This is a characteristic feature of hypertonicity. At the same time, his arms and legs are bent and pressed to the body.
During a tantrum, the child is tense and bends. In a nervous state, trembling of the chin is noted.
The baby is able to hold his head upright from birth.
When you spread your legs to the sides, you feel a strong muscle tension. When you try again, the tension increases. The child resists and protests with a cry.
In an upright position, the baby does not rest his entire foot on the surface, but stands on his toes.

Existing signs of hypertonicity should prompt parents to seek advice from a neurologist.

During the examination, the doctor identifies the presence or absence of certain reflexes in the child and their compliance with the age norm.

Walking reflex. In an upright position, the baby tends to take steps. Normally, this ability disappears after 2 months of age.
Symmetry of reflexes. When lying on the back, the baby's chin is pressed to the chest. At the same time, the behavior of the limbs is observed - bending of the arms and straightening of the legs should occur. When the head is tilted to the right, there is a straightening of the limbs with right side and tension on the left. When you turn your head in the other direction, everything happens exactly the opposite. This reflex should disappear after 3 months.
Ability to tone. While lying on his stomach, the baby should tuck his limbs. Lying on your back relaxes your arms and legs. After three months the ability disappears.
When examining a newborn, the doctor places the baby in his arm, face down. In this position, the baby should experience contraction of the arms and relaxation of the legs. Under normal conditions, the head and back should extend into one line.

Parents can detect symptoms on their own. If a violation is suspected, they should consult a doctor.. A neurologist will be able to determine the presence or absence of a diagnosis and establish its type.

Nature of violations

Muscle tone can be either increased or decreased. Sometimes there is an imbalance - a combination of the first and second. In other words, increased muscle tone in the arms and decreased tone in the lower extremities may be present at the same time, or vice versa. This symptom is called dystonia.

For asymmetry muscle hypertonicity occurs only on one side. This condition is also called torticollis. The child is placed in a prone position and examined from the back. With asymmetry, the head is turned towards that half of the body where hypertonicity appears. On the same side, there is a bend in the back and tension in the arms.

Hypotension is also considered a disorder. This phenomenon has the opposite symptoms of hypertonicity and manifests itself in lethargy and impaired motor activity.

Muscle hypertonicity and hypotonicity may not appear systemically, but in individual parts of the body. In this case, there is a decrease or increase in muscle tone only in the arms, legs or back.

Violation of muscle tone is not an independent disease, but indicates other, more serious pathologies of the nervous system. That is why the symptoms of hypertension should not be ignored. If the syndrome is detected, the child must be thoroughly examined. In this case, an ultrasound of the brain is performed, and in rare cases, a tomogram.

Possible reasons

The causes of damage to the central nervous system can lie both in problems associated with pregnancy and in complications during childbirth.

Scroll possible reasons lesions of the central nervous system in a child that cause a violation of muscle tone:

infectious diseases of the mother during pregnancy;
improper lifestyle of a pregnant woman;
taking medications by the mother during pregnancy;
Rhesus conflict expectant mother and fetus;
injuries received by the child during childbirth;
genetic incompatibility of parents;
unfavorable environmental situation.

The presence of these factors can only indirectly confirm the presence of a symptom of hypertonicity in a child.

Treatment should be aimed not only at correcting muscular dystonia, but also at identifying and eliminating the underlying cause that caused the condition.

Treatment options

When treating muscle tone disorders, non-drug methods are primarily used:

massage techniques;
water procedures (bathing in herbal infusions of valerian, motherwort, sage, excluding diving);
gymnastic exercises, with the exception of dynamic gymnastics;
physiotherapy;
osteopathic techniques.

When prescribing medications, those that can improve cerebral circulation, establish metabolic processes and reduce muscle tension.

Minor violations may hide serious reasons. The harmonious development of the child should extend in all planes. A deviation in one area may lead to a violation in another area. Alarming symptoms of changes in muscle tone should not be ignored. During the examination, the doctor will be able to determine in which direction to move next, what examination and treatment the child may need.

The causes of hypertonicity are a group of factors that provoke excess tension in any muscle groups, which persists at the moment of their relaxation. With increased tone, a person’s muscles are dense, constrained, and voluntary movements are difficult and sometimes painful.

Increased muscle tone is one of the main syndromes of neurological diseases and disorders of the nervous system. Brain signals are incorrectly transmitted along nerve fibers, are interpreted falsely or do not reach their destination, which is the cause of incorrect, slow muscle response. Conventionally, three types of hypertonicity can be distinguished, depending on the group of people in whom it is observed:

Hypertonicity of the uterus in pregnant women;
Hypertonicity in children (infants);
Hypertonicity in adults.

These three types of tone are characterized by different symptoms, have a number of different causes and consequences, and require different types of treatment.

Hypertonicity is not a disease, but only its manifestation, a syndrome. Thus, treatment requires an initially correct diagnosis.

Increased uterine tone in pregnant women

Many pregnant women face the problem of uterine hypertonicity, which is muscular organ. Excessive tension in the uterus of a pregnant woman can be dangerous for the unborn child and cause abortion, especially during early stages, when the embryo is not yet sufficiently attached to its walls. The body perceives the embryo as a foreign object and tries to get rid of it, push it out of the uterus through its contractions. Sometimes a woman may not feel any tone at all, but most often its signs are:

nagging pain in the lower abdomen or lower back;
“petrification” of the abdomen, it becomes hard and changes shape;
Uncharacteristic discharge, sometimes bloody.

Since the consequence of uterine tone can be a miscarriage, you should consult a doctor at the first signs. Based on the results of the examination, tests, and ultrasound, the doctor determines the cause of this pathological condition and prescribes the necessary treatment.

Causes of uterine hypertension during pregnancy:

physical exercise;
overwork;
stress, nervous state of the pregnant woman;
diseases of women reproductive organs such as: fibroids, endometriosis, inflammation;
infectious disease of a pregnant woman;
hormonal disorders, for example, the level of the male hormone is higher than the female one.

When eliminating uterine tone in pregnant women, the doctor needs to find the cause of this phenomenon. Basically, women require inpatient treatment, complete rest, a minimum of movements and physical activity, emotional balance. A pregnant woman must understand that she is responsible not only for her life, but also for the life of her unborn child, so you should not self-medicate, but seek medical help at the first suspicion.

Hypertonicity in infants

In 90 cases out of 100, children in the first months of life experience increased muscle tone. There are two main causes of this condition in infants:

physiological characteristics;
disturbances in the functioning of the central nervous system.

In the first case, the baby’s muscle tone is explained by the fact that during intrauterine life the child was in a limited, small space of the mother’s uterus and his posture was forcedly constrained, the so-called fetal position. The arms and legs of the fetus are pressed to the body, and the chin to the chest. After birth, this position is the most familiar and safe for the baby, the baby needs to get used to the new world around him, usually by 3 months the muscles gradually relax, and the increased tone goes away on its own, without the need for treatment. However, if hypertonicity persists after 3 months, this may indicate that the baby’s nervous system has been damaged. The main causes of hypertension in children older than 3 months lie in the influence of negative factors during the period of intrauterine development of the fetus, diseases, and birth injuries. It could be:

bad habits of the expectant mother: smoking, alcohol, drugs;
infectious diseases suffered by the mother during pregnancy, or her chronic diseases;
early or late toxicosis of the pregnant woman, uterine tone, threat of miscarriage;
Rhesus conflict between mother and fetus;
perinatal encephalopathy;
rapid or prolonged labor;
fetal hypoxia in utero or during childbirth;
various birth injuries.

Typically, neurologists prescribe procedures for children with increased muscle tone that can only relieve the main symptoms, but they do not find the causes of the disorders and do not solve the problems. For example:

physiotherapy;
physiotherapy;
aromatherapy;
massotherapy;
drug treatment.

Most effective method Treatment of hypertension in young children - osteopathic. An osteopathic doctor views the human body as a single whole, and sees all its systems and organs as interconnected. Osteopaths can treat one organ while influencing another, identifying the cause of the pathology and combating its consequences. Osteopathic treatment is based on a special massage. The doctor's fingers are extremely sensitive and receptive, and movements and manipulations are very soft and gentle. That is why the effects of osteopathic techniques on infants are safe, painless and effective. An osteopath can easily help a child’s nervous system, which is not fully formed, to function fully.

Increased muscle tone in an adult

In an adult, muscle tone is observed as a consequence of disruption of the nervous system; this is one of the indicators of the presence of neurological diseases. There are 2 types of increased tone: spastic (localized) and rigid (applies to all muscles at the same time). Hypertonicity can be caused by:

demyelinating neurological diseases, such as multiple sclerosis;
pathological processes in the vessels of the brain and spinal cord(stroke);
various injuries brain or spinal cord;
disruption of the functioning of nerve impulses.

With a spastic type of tone, disturbances in the functioning of nerve centers and pathways are observed, and with a rigid type, pathologies of the brain or spinal cord are observed.

Hypertonicity in adults is a sign of a serious neurological disorder resulting from the presence of severe diseases of the nervous system. In this case, it is most rational to use complex therapy. Along with traditional medicine, osteopathy can come to the rescue, which significantly alleviates the patient’s condition. Osteopathic techniques are very gentle, they bring the patient a feeling of relaxation, tranquility, and warmth. With his hands, an osteopathic doctor can improve muscle function, blood flow, and influence bones and joints, while he fights not the clinical manifestations of the disease, but its cause. The osteopath triggers the necessary mechanisms that, like a clockwork, normalize the functioning of the entire body as a whole.

Muscle tone is involuntary, constantly changing in intensity muscle tension, not accompanied by a motor effect. Muscle tone creates preparation for movement, provides muscle resistance and elasticity. Maintaining balance and posture. Muscle tone has two components: plastic and reflex. Plastic tone is muscle tension, its turgor, which is preserved under conditions of denervation. This term defines the tone of individual muscle cells, depending on the characteristics of their structure, exchange of substances, blood and lymph circulation, content of compounds. fabrics.

Reflex tone is a reflex muscle tension caused by its stretching, i.e. irritation of proprioceptors. Muscle tone is influenced by the spinal reflex apparatus, afferent innervation, reticular formation, vestibular centers, cerebellum, red nucleus system, basal ganglia, etc. To judge the state of muscle tone, the muscles of segmental areas of the body are directly palpated. However, the determining factor is the study of muscle tone through passive movements in the flexors and extensors, adductors and abductors. Hypotonia and muscle atony occur with peripheral paralysis or paresis (disruption of the efferent part of the reflex arc due to damage to the nerve, root, cells of the anterior horn of the spinal cord), damage to the cerebellum, brain stem, corpus striatum and posterior cords of the spinal cord. distinguish between spastic and plastic hypertension. Spas-aya - increase. muscle tone in the flexors and pronators of the arm and in the extensors and adductors of the leg (in case of damage to the pyramidal tract). With spastic hypertension, during repeated movements of the limb, muscle tone does not change, and sometimes decreases; with plastic hypertension, muscle tone increases. With spastic hypertension, a “penknife” symptom is observed (an obstacle to passive movement in the initial phase of the study), with plastic hypertension – a “cogwheel” symptom (a feeling of tremors during the study of muscle tone in the extremities). Plastic hypertension is an increase in muscle tone, uniform in both flexors and extensors, pronators and supinators.

2.7.Peripheral paralysis.

In periphery palsy (PP), the damage can involve the anterior horns, several anterior roots, and peripheral nerves. PP is characterized by: 1) hypotension and muscle atony. 2) hypo- and areflexia. 3) hypo- and muscle atrophy. 4) neurogenic muscular degeneration with degeneration reaction.

When the anterior horns are damaged, the muscles innervated from this segment suffer. Often, in atrophying muscles, rapid contractions of individual muscle fibers and their bundles are observed - fibrillar and fascicular twitching, due to irritation by the pathological process on dead neurons.

Damage to the anterior roots gives the same picture. Damage to the plexus of the periphery results in paralysis of one limb in combination with pain and anesthesia, as well as autonomic disorders in this limb. When the peripheral nerve is damaged, there is paralysis of the muscles innervating this nerve, combined with sensory disturbances. Damage to many peripheral nerves leads to widespread sensory, motor and vegetative disorders, most often bilateral, mainly in the distal segments of the limbs. Patients complain of paresthesia and pain. Sensory disturbances of the “socks” or “gloves” type, flaccid muscle paralysis with atrophy, and trophic disorders on the skin are detected.