A lot of people, are getting into this #icebucketchallenge to help people become aware of Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), often referred to as Lou Gehrigs Disease. #ALS is a progressive neurodegenerative disease that affects nerve cells in the brain and the spinal cord. Motor neurons reach from the brain to the spinal cord and from the spinal cord to the muscles throughout the body. The progressive degeneration of the motor neurons in ALS eventually leads to their death. When the motor neurons die, the ability of the brain to initiate and control muscle movement is lost. With voluntary muscle action progressively affected, patients in the later stages of the disease may become totally paralyzed. A-myo-trophic comes from the Greek language. A means no or negative. Myo refers to muscle, and Trophic means nourishment–No muscle nourishment. When a muscle has no nourishment, it atrophies or wastes away. Lateral identifies the areas in a persons spinal cord where portions of the nerve cells that signal and control the muscles are located. As this area degenerates it leads to scarring or hardening (sclerosis) in the region. As motor neurons degenerate, they can no longer send impulses to the muscle fibers that normally result in muscle movement. Early symptoms of ALS often include increasing muscle weakness, especially involving the arms and legs, speech, swallowing or breathing. When muscles no longer receive the messages from the motor neurons that they require to function, the muscles begin to atrophy (become smaller). Limbs begin to look thinner as muscle tissue atrophies. alsa.org/about-als/what-is-als.html
Posted on: Fri, 22 Aug 2014 07:04:53 +0000
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