Paralysis

Paralysis is the complete loss of muscle function for one or more muscle groups. Major causes are stroke, trauma, poliomyelitis, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), botulism, spina bifida, multiple sclerosis, and Guillain-Barr? syndrome.

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Paralysis may be localized, generalized or follow a certain pattern. For example, localized paralysis occurs in Bell's palsy where one side of the face may be paralysed due to inflammation of the facial nerve on that side. Patients with stroke may be weak throughout their body (global paralysis) or have hemiplegia (weakness on one side of the body) or other patterns of paralysis depending on the area of damage in the brain. Other patterns of paralysis arise due to different lesions and their sequelae. For example, lower spinal cord damage from a severe back injury may result in paraplegia.

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Famous people with paralysis include the late Christopher Reeve, Jesse Billauer from the movie Step Into Liquid, and hundreds of thousands of others around the world.

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Muscle: Muscle is a contractile form of tissue. It is one of the four major tissue types, the other three being epithelium, connective tissue and nervous tissue. Muscle contraction is used to move parts of the body, as well as to move substances within the body....

Trauma: Trauma can represent:...

Poliomyelitis: Poliomyelitis ("polio"), or infantile paralysis, is a viral paralytic disease. The causative agent, a virus called poliovirus (PV), enters the body orally, infecting the intestinal lining. It may proceed to the blood stream and into the central nervous system causing muscle weakness and often para...