Muscle Wasting
Feel For
- Decreased muscle mass. Note whether wasting is isolated to a single muscle, muscle group, limb, or is generalised.
Causes of Muscle Wasting
- Normal aging
- Disuse
- Malnutrition - poor diet, malabsorption, cancer
- Denervation - trauma, motor neurone disease, Guillain-barré Syndrome, peripheral neuropathy, polio
- Muscular disorders - inflammatory myopathy, muscular dystrophies
- Chronic disease - cancer, heart failure, COPD, infection, cirrhosis, kidney disease
Fasciculations
Look For
- Spontaneous localised muscle contraction and relaxation.
Causes of Fasciculations
- Benign / normal
- Lower motor neuron disorders - ALS, radiculopathy, peripheral neuropathy, entrapment, syringomyelia, Creutzfeldt-Jakob (prion) disease
- Metabolic disorders - thyrotoxicosis, tetanus, anticholinesterase medications
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