What is the medical term for weakness?
Asthenia, also known as weakness, is the feeling of body fatigue or tiredness. A person experiencing weakness may not be able to move a certain part of their body properly. Asthenia is best described as a lack of energy to move certain muscles or even all muscles in the body.
What are the causes of weakness in body?
Short-term weakness may occur because of overwork, stress, or lack of sleep. You may also feel weakness after overcoming an illness, such as a cold or the flu. It is normal to feel some weakness after some physical activity. You may also feel weakness as a symptom of depression.
What is acute weakness?
Definitions. acute, non-traumatic neurologic weakness is a decrease or loss of muscular strength that limits a patient’s ability to perform a task with normal or desired force 1,2,3.
What is asthenia medical terms?
Listen to pronunciation. (as-THEE-nee-uh) Weakness; lack of energy and strength.
Is weakness a medical diagnosis?
Weakness and fatigue are nonspecific symptoms that may be encountered in a bewildering number of medical and psychiatric disorders; they also may be the expected physiologic consequence of normal human activities. Most patients with weakness or fatigue have self-limited conditions and do not seek medical care.
Which doctor is best for weakness?
General Physician.
How do you treat general body weakness?
Mild fatigue can often be prevented by changes in lifestyle habits.
- Get regular exercise. If you feel too tired to exercise vigorously, try taking a short walk.
- Eat a balanced diet.
- Get enough sleep.
- Deal with emotional problems instead of ignoring or denying them.
- Take steps to control your stress and workload.
What is asymmetric weakness?
Asymmetric weakness can be divided into weakness with UMN signs and LMN signs. Asymmetric weakness with UMN signs is due to a focal lesion in the CNS (brain or corticospinal tracts in the cord). It has an extensive differential diagnosis, including infection, inflammation, neoplasm, and ischemic disease.
Is there a differential diagnosis for acute weakness?
Although this topic reviews the approach to the patient with acute weakness from nontraumatic neurologic or neuromuscular disease, a broad differential diagnosis, including causes of generalized weakness (or malaise), is presented here to assist clinicians looking for additional information about these conditions.
How to diagnose and treat muscle weakness?
The evaluation of the patient presenting with a complaint of “weakness” involves three steps: ● Distinguishing true muscle weakness from lassitude or motor impairment not due to loss of muscle power. ● Localizing, within the neuromuscular system, the site of the lesion that is producing weakness. ● Determining the cause of the lesion.
What can cause generalized malaise in the elderly?
Particularly in the elderly, infection, cardiovascular disease, and dehydration must be considered as possible causes of weakness. However, such conditions cause generalized malaise rather than true neuromuscular weakness and will not be discussed here, except to mention them as important considerations in the differential diagnosis.
What causes weakness in the emergency department ( ED )?
Weakness is a common, nonspecific emergency department (ED) complaint that encompasses a broad differential diagnosis. Causes include neurologic ailments and a range of non-neurologic conditions.