Low muscle tone, or hypotonia, is a condition of abnormally low muscle mass or strength. It is often a symptom of an underlying disorder and mainly affects children. Diagnosis is relatively easy, but discovering the cause can be difficult. Physiotherapy and treatment of the underlying cause can alleviate symptoms.
Low muscle tone is the condition of having abnormally low muscle mass or strength. In medicine, low muscle tone is known as hypotonia. While not harmful in and of itself, it is often a symptom of an underlying disorder. This condition mainly affects children and babies. Hypotonia is usually relieved with physical therapy or treatment of the underlying cause.
Hypotonia in young children often involves decreased muscle strength. Although not a distinct medical disorder, it is usually a symptom of a disorder or disease that affects motor nerve control, muscle strength, or other neurological functions. It does not reflect directly on a child’s mental capacity. However, some children with this condition may take longer to develop language, reasoning, and social skills.
Diagnosing low muscle tone, even in the early formative years, is relatively easy. The most common signs are unusually soft muscles, abnormally flexible limbs, and difficulty chewing and swallowing. For infants, slow physical development to hold their heads up, crawl, suck, and sit up is a common indicator of the disorder.
Discovering the cause of low muscle tone can be difficult because many disorders cause this symptom. In addition, there are similarities between the disorders that cause congenital hypotonia. These disorders include Down syndrome, Marfan syndrome, cerebellar ataxia, Prader-Willi syndrome, and Riley-Day syndrome, to name a few. Specialists are often needed to determine precisely what problem is causing the symptoms. Furthermore, the most common disorders are genetic in nature, which, by themselves, cannot be treated.
An affected baby is sometimes referred to as a floppy baby. With substantial weakness and almost no muscle control, the infant’s head and other extremities “drop” uncontrollably when lifted. While most infants tend to flex their knees and elbows when resting, a baby with low muscle tone dangles their legs and hands by their sides like a rag doll. It is imperative to take extra care when lifting and carrying a baby with low muscle tone to avoid causing injury.
Unless the underlying cause is degenerative, low muscle tone tends to improve over time. Still, muscle strength will normally not be as strong as that of the average person. To alleviate this, physiotherapy and treatment of the underlying cause are usually performed.
Physiotherapy, on the other hand, can give a relatively immediate result, especially with early medical intervention. The muscles are stimulated to replicate the exercise and improve strength and mass. This treatment can be given even without proper diagnosis or treatment of the underlying disease. Speech therapy can also lessen some of the effects of the disorder, such as difficulty chewing, swallowing, and speaking.
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