Physiologic Adaptation of Muscle and Soft Tissues to Use History – Typical and Pathologic
Relevance of muscle balance and physiologic adaptation to TheraTogs:
- Muscle and surrounding tissues adapt to accommodate and support routine muscle use.
- Children with “spastic” cerebral palsy compensate for deficits in postural control with excessive, stabilizing, tonic limb muscle use.
- Routine tonic muscle use can be simulated with the application of prolonged, low-voltage electrical stimulation.
- Physiologic changes seen in the skeletal muscles of children with CP resemble those produced with prolonged electrical stimulation.
- While most researchers attribute the pathologic changes in CP muscle to spasticity, the apparent relationship between compromised postural control and chronic, tonic limb muscle recruitment has not yet been investigated.
- TheraTogs used to improve daily functioning alignment and postural control can improve range of motion by reducing the stabilizing efforts by the limbs.1
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Typical Muscle Adaptation
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Pathologic Adaptation in Children with Cerebral Palsy
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