Muscular weakness

“ Such weakness is frequently indicated by extreme sensitiveness to heat or cold and by a tendency to "catch cold." From a health standpoint the preservation of the normal muscular "tone" of the blood vessels is a problem of great importance. Though the muscles of the blood vessels cannot be exercised in the same manner as the voluntary muscles, they may be called actively into play through all the conditions that induce changes in the blood supply to different parts of the body. The usual forms of physical exercise necessitate such changes and indirectly exercise the muscular coat. ”

“ And the muscular system not only acts as a store-house of vitality for the brain, and a purifier of its supply of blood, but it covers the nervous system, acting as its stay and protection. "To be weak is to be miserable. . . . Susceptibility of nerve and feebleness of muscle generally go together." To correct one deficiency is usually to cure the other weakness.
To the young, physical exercise is essential to growth, both of body and mind. Youth is not only the time to cultivate good habits, but also the time to store up vitality. ”

“ When the fibres of which a muscle is composed have become thus altered by fatty degeneration they become softer according, to the amount of it; they are more easily torn and may even tear across when the muscle is being used during life. The more a muscle is thus degenerated the weaker it is, because it contains less muscular substance and more fat. Not only do the heart and other voluntary muscles thus degenerate, but those of the arteries also. ”

“ The muscle-engine, in like manner, deteriorates if it is allowed to stand idle. Sometimes this occurs in disease. In paralysis the limb cannot move, and the inactive muscles waste, become thin and flaccid, and undergo curious molecular changes, converting the muscular matter into fatty-like particles. ”

“ In other words, he exchanges muscle for fat, and as the fat increases he has less and less muscular strength to carry it. It is as though in a motor-car one added hundreds of pounds of weight to the body and reduced the horse-power of the engine. Pretty soon the man becomes so heavy around the waist that he notices his discomfort, and it produces exhaustion; now he becomes more and more averse to exercise, and the facia, or fat, having the better of the battle, begins to penetrate even the fiber of the muscles. ”

“ The restriction of a healthy muscle causes it partially to lose its functioning ability, and habitual restraint and unnatural pressure brought to bear upon the muscles of the trunk result in local congestion and in displacement of special organs. Lungs, liver, and intestines, together with the organs of reproduction, suffer from the constrictive effects of the corset, and lack of nourishment, due to restricted circulation thus produced, causes atrophy of muscular tissue, since the latter is not adequately rebuilt. ”

“ The attention of the sufferer is first attracted by the power of the hand becoming weakened, and then there is found to be a wasting of certain of its muscles, particularly those of the ball of the thumb. Gradually other muscles in the arms and legs become affected in a similar manner, their atrophy being attended with a corresponding diminution in power. Although sometimes arrested, this disease tends to progress, involving additional muscles, until in course of time the greater part of the muscular system is impli cated, and a fatal result ensues. ”

“ Two thousand years ago, Isocrates, the Greek rhetorician, said: "Exercise for health, not for strength." The cultivation of muscle for its own sake is a return to barbarism, while it enfeebles the mind, and ultimately the body. The ancient gymnasts are said to have become prematurely old, and the trained performers of our own day soon suffer from the strain they put upon their muscular system. ”

“ Her chief trouble is from the returning vitality of the poor arm; the muscles knot all round it, and move on slowly by a quarter of an inch at a time, as the life advances: passing the shoulder was agony, and I dread the passing the elbow. Meantime, the rest of the arm is an independent being, acting by its independent muscular action, and is obliged to be constantly watched, as it will sometimes lay its heavy weight upon her chest, once clutched her by the throat and nearly strangled her, at others annoys her by stealing her pocket-handkerchiefs! ”

“ It has been observed by physicians that very frequently athletic types of manhood have weak hearts, weak lungs and weak vital organs generally. Often their health and efficiency in later life are poor; and, in not a few cases, they break down prematurely. These observations have set both medical men and teachers of physical culture to thinking, and we are now being told that there is danger of over-developing the muscular system; that overdeveloped muscles impose a severe drain upon the rest of the organism ”

“ And as weakness of muscle is attended with unsteady, irregular, and sometimes even spasmodic action of its fibres, so it is with weakness of mind. Its efforts are fitful, and it is easily thrown off from its balance. ”

“ The muscular system becomes greatly enfeebled, atrophied, and unable to perform its functions; the loss sustained by the muscles least used being most marked. The extent of muscular power possible in starvation varies in different individuals and in various circumstances.
The vigorous and healthy adult, as a rule, retains muscular power to a greater extent and for a longer period than the child or aged person, under similar circumstances.
Exposure to a rigorous climate, prolonged fatigue, etc., rapidly reduce capacity for muscular effort in conditions of inanition. ”

“ Such employments call into action the muscles that support the spinal column in an erect position, and the languor or uneasiness is muscular pain. The long-continued tension of a muscle enfeebles its action, and eventually destroys its contractility. ”

“ The actual structural change is the visible effect of the law that over-use of a muscle produces over-growth or hypertrophy. This is not a law of disease, but of purposeful utility, designed to meet emergencies of life. Still there is a further law in nature, that long-continued excessive use of any muscle leads to a form of hypertrophy28 which cannot maintain its vitality, but degenerates. Arteries must be treated as muscles, for their muscular coats contract and dilate, as circumstances demand, under the control of the nervous system. ”

“ The well-trained muscles contain only healthy protoplasm, and give off but a small percentage of nitrogenous decomposition products. Let the well-fed person who takes but little exercise, run half a mile, or play a simple game of ball, and the following day the muscles will be stiff and sore; this unusual exertion has caused the breaking down of much loosely organized tissue which could have been made firm and healthy by daily muscular activity. ”

“ The muscle may be impaired by a local disease which affects it alone, or it may share in morbid processes which also involve other and distant structures.
Sedentary occupations, leading as they do to poor nutrition of the muscular system from want of proper use and exercise; malnutrition from a diet deficient in amount or defective in kind, or in childhood from too rapid growth; the chronic wasting diseases; the state of convalescence from acute maladies; and, finally, degenerative diseases of the muscles themselves,—all favor the development of myalgia. ”

“ Every individual, however, who recognizes the need of such training and works accordingly, is doing his part to hasten a more intelligent use of the will by humanity in general.
When muscles are trained abnormally their development weakens, instead of strengthening, the whole system. Great muscular strength is often deceptive in the appearance of power that it gives; it often effectually hides, under a strong exterior, a process of degeneration which is going on within, and it is not uncommon for an athlete to die of heart disease or pulmonary consumption. ”

“ The paralysis is usually symmetrical on both sides. Although the extensors are affected most, the flexors nearly always participate, and a careful investigation will show that they are weakened. If the paralysis continues, there is a wasting and degeneration of the muscle, but this is seen in paralysis from any cause. The muscular affection may cause deformities in the hands, shoulders, &c. Anæsthesia of portions of the skin is generally present in a greater or less degree. ”

“ The greater the displacement of the line of gravity, the greater the muscular effort required to maintain the equilibrium of the body. Up to a certain extent, exercising the muscle develops the strength and size of the muscle. On the other hand, when a muscle within the body is unused, it wastes; when used within certain limits, it grows. But when the corset splint is applied to the body of the young girl, it supplants the functions of the abdominal and back muscles, which is to hold the trunk erect, and these muscles gradually grow weak and waste. ”

“ It is like a motor-car with two cylinders. If one stops the other will run on for a time, but its wear is increased. When a man stops exercising and ceases to carry off by means of his skin some of these impurities, he throws an additional load on his kidneys. When a man goes without exercise and begins to accumulate fat, that fat gradually deposits itself and not alone about the waist; it invades the muscular tissue all over his body even to his heart. As this accumulation grows there come with it a muscular slackness and a disinclination to exercise. ”

“ The separation of the nervous influence and the muscular irritability, although it has led to many highly instructive speculations, is not without its 229 difficulties, when viewed with reference to the Idea of Vital Power. If the irritability of each muscle reside in the muscle itself, how does it differ from a mere mechanical force, as elasticity? But, in point of fact, it is certain that the muscular irritability of the animal body is not an attribute of the muscle itself independent of its connexion with the system. ”

“ The muscles, about 400 pairs, which must perform all the actual work of the body, require good nourishment through the blood, which will rapidly replace the cells that are constantly used up.
Muscular degeneration is caused by disturbances in the quality and circulation of the blood.
Interruption in the proper circulation of the blood, stagnation etc., cause rheumatism with intense pains, and this can be removed only by restoring the undisturbed circulation of the blood, carrying all substances requisite for the proper nutrition of the muscles. ”

“ Infantile paralysis, which often appears suddenly, muscular atrophy, which develops slowly, progressive and chronic atrophy of the muscles, are also forms of muscular disease, combined with destruction of the accompanying nerve tissue.
A special group of muscular diseases consists of amyloid (fatty) degeneration of vital muscle substance, as for instance of the heart, the kidneys, the liver. These are also caused by faulty composition of the blood, which does not feed the muscles with the substances required and thus causes them to degenerate by developing too much fat. ”

“ Not only the increasing tension of antagonist muscles, but the resistance of tendons, bones, and softer parts must be taken into account. Thus, the increase of the blacksmith’s muscular power would involve a considerable increase in all the tissues of the arm; but such an increase would involve a reconstruction of his whole organism.
Whenever there is an encroachment of one tissue on another, there is a disturbance of the normal balance, which readily passes into a pathological state. If the brain is overrun with connective tissue, or the heart with fatty tissue, we know the consequences. ”

“ Many a strong-limbed young man and many a blooming young woman have I seen failing and dropping away in or before middle life, and many a delicate and slightly constituted person outliving the athletes and the beauties of their generation. Whether the excessive development of the muscular system is compatible with the best condition of general health is, I think, more than doubtful. The muscles are great sponges that suck up and make use of large quantities of blood, and the other organs must be liable to suffer for want of their share. ”

“ As functional disability is frequently due to the affected muscle being over-stretched, it is of the first importance, when the acute symptoms are on the wane, that every care should be taken to prevent the weak muscular groups being put upon the stretch, and the greatest attention should be paid to the posture of the limb during convalescence. For example, if the child is allowed to lie with the wrist flexed, the flexor muscles undergo shortening, and the extensors are over-stretched and are therefore placed at a mechanical disadvantage. ”

“ The tendinous reflexes were normal, but irritation of the soles produced a peculiar cramp of the leg-flexors and bending of the knees. There is a species of muscular increase which resembles pseudo-hypertrophic paralysis. ”

“ In some instances the so-called "living skeletons" are merely cases of extreme muscular atrophy. As a prominent example of this class the exhibitionist, Rosa Lee Plemons at the age of eighteen weighed only 27 pounds. Figure 177 shows another case of extraordinary atrophic condition of all the tissues of the body associated with nondevelopment. These persons are always sickly and exhibit all the symptoms of progressive muscular atrophy, and cannot therefore be classed with the true examples of thinness, in which the health is but slightly affected or possibly perfect health is enjoyed. ”