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Chapter 13: Getting Ripped: The Muscular System
Table 13-2 Muscular Suffixes
Suffix What It Means
-algia Pain in fibrous tissue
-desis Surgical fixation
-ectomy Surgical removal or excision
-gram Record
-graphy The process of recording
-itis Inflammation
-ology Study of
-oma Tumor or mass
-otomy To cut into
-pathy Disease
-rrhaphy Suture repair
Action Item: The Movement of Your Muscles
Your muscles do a serious amount of work every single hour of every day.
Though you may be reading this book propped up on some pillows while munching corn chips, your muscles are at work — muscles are moving your eyes across the words so you can read and comprehend, smooth muscles are working your organs, and superficial muscles are helping keep your body upright. Turns out, for every muscular action, luckily for you, there is a word to describe it. Here are just a few muscular action words to remember:
(such as fingers spread apart)
✓ Adduction: Movement of drawing toward the middle of the body (i.e.
fingers held together) ✓ Eversion: Turning outward
✓ Extension: Movement in which a limb is placed in a straight position ✓ Flexion: Movement in which a limb is bent
✓ Inversion: Turning inward
✓ Pronation: Movement that turns the palm of the hand downward ✓ Rotation: Turning around on its own axis
✓ Supination: Movement that turns the palm of the hand upward To remember the difference between -ectomy and -otomy, remember -ectomy
with e for exit or excision and -otomy for o to open only.
Common Muscular Conditions
Muscular conditions are fairly common in people of all ages and backgrounds.
From tennis elbow to the enigmatic fibromyalgia, the muscular system can take a real beating. Here are the most common muscular conditions:
✓ Bursitis: Inflammation of the bursa sac, which lines the joint and pro- vides smooth joint movement
✓ Fibromyalgia: Pain in fibrous tissues of muscles, tendons, or ligaments ✓ Myoparalysis: Paralysis of a muscle
✓ Tennis elbow: The tendon that connects the arm muscle to elbow becomes inflamed due to the repetitive use of the arm
The actual medical term for this is lateral or medial epicondylitis (lateral if referring to the bump on the outside of the elbow, medial to the bump on the inside).
✓ Tendinitis or tendonitis: Inflammation of a tendon
✓ Tenosynovitis: Inflammation of the tendon and the sheath around it, often in a finger or the wrist
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Chapter 13: Getting Ripped: The Muscular System
Finding the Culprit: Muscular Diseases and Pathology
Some of the most serious diseases affect the muscular system. From diseases that affect facial movement to the full-body atrophy of Lou Gehrig’s disease, these diseases are all challenging:
✓ Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS): Movement disorder or muscle atrophy with degeneration of nerves in the spinal cord and lower region of the brain, also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease
✓ Dupuytren’s contracture: Disease affecting the palmar fascia of the hand, causing the ring finger and little finger to contract towards the palm
✓ Leiomyoma: Benign tumor of smooth muscle
✓ Leiomyosarcoma: Malignant tumor of smooth muscle
✓ Myasthenia gravis: Lack of muscle strength with paralysis, characterized by weakness of muscles of the face and jaw, with difficulty swallowing ✓ Myosarcoma: Malignant tumor of muscle tissue
✓ Muscular dystrophy: Inherited disease characterized by progressive weakness and degeneration of muscle fibers without involvement of the nervous system
✓ Polymyalgia rheumatica: Muscle pain, common in shoulder or pelvis, without arthritis or signs of muscle distress
✓ Rotator cuff disease: Inflammation of tendons, and if they fuse you have a larger problem, a condition called frozen shoulder or adhesive capsulitis ✓ Torticollis: Acute myositis of the cervical muscles (wryneck)
Testing, Testing: Muscular Radiology and Diagnostic tests
Though the list of muscular conditions and diseases is quite long, there are some simple diagnostic tests doctors can perform to diagnose most muscular ailments.
This procedure is done to diagnose carpal tunnel syndrome.
Electromyography is an electrical recording of activity in a muscle.
✓ MRI (magnetic resonance imaging): The gold standard for making pic- tures of soft tissue such as fascia, tendons, ligaments and muscle.
✓ X-ray: Picture of the bones.
Paging Dr. Terminology: Muscular Surgeries and Procedures
Now that your muscles have been poked, prodded, tested, and diagnosed, it’s time to fix what’s broken. Most of these procedures are surgical in nature.
Many surgeries are performed arthroscopically, through a scope inserted into or near a joint space, with one lone endoscopic rogue, Palmar uniportal endoscopic carpal tunnel release. This is also called a Mirza technique, an endo- scopic method for release of carpal tunnel, previously accomplished by open surgery.
The surgical players are
✓ Fasciectomy: Excision of fascia (fibrous band or membrane of tissue surrounding muscle)
✓ Myoplasty: Surgical repair of a muscle ✓ Myorrhaphy: Suturing of a muscle ✓ Tenodesis: Surgical fixation of a tendon
✓ Tenomyoplasty: Surgical repair of a tendon and muscle ✓ Tenorrhaphy: Suturing of a tendon
✓ Tenotomy: Incision of a tendon
It’s All Related: More Muscular Terms
While the makeup of the muscular system is pretty straightforward, there are still all sorts of useful terms you need to know in order to communicate about your muscles. Try a few of the words from Table 13-3 on for size.
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Chapter 13: Getting Ripped: The Muscular System Table 13-3 Common Muscular Vocabulary
Word What It Means
Articulation Joint
Atrophy Without development, wasting away of
a muscle
Bradykinesia Slow body movement
Diathermy Heat applied to deep tissues
Dyskinesia Difficult body movement
Dystrophy Abnormal development
Fascia Band of tissue surrounding muscle
Fasciitis Inflammation of fascia
Hyperkinesia Excessive body movement or
overactivity
Kinesiology The study of movement
Ligament Binds bone to bone
Myasthenia Muscle weakness
Myalgia Muscle pain
Myology The study of muscles
Myoclonus Muscle relaxation and contraction in
rapid succession
Myopathy Any muscular disease
Tendon Connective tissue binding muscles to
bones
Tenodynia Pain in a tendon
Tenosynovitis Inflammation of the tendon and
synovial membrane