Introduction Muscle is the contractile tissue of animals. There are three types of muscle found in the body: skeletal muscle, smooth muscle and cardiac muscle. The focus of this chapter is skeletal muscle. Skeletal muscle is attached to bones through structure called tendons. Tendons are made of connective tissue. The functional structure formed by a muscle and its tendons is referred to as the unit. The function of skeletal muscle is to produce force that is transferred to the bones to cause motion. Skeletal muscles are responsible for locomotion and movement and are under voluntary nervous control. Massage therapy targets soft tissues and is shown to have a profound impact on the health and function of muscles and tendons. Massage can affect the tone, elasticity, circulation, nutrition, strength of contraction, and recovery time of muscles. By enhancing muscle function and muscle health massage therapy can improve athletic performance and increase the comfort and sense of well-being of the horse. As massage has a great effect on muscle tissue it is essential to know that certain muscular pathologies and conditions are cautions or contraindications to massage. The following conditions should be treated as contraindications/cautions to massage: ______________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________
Muscular Pathologies
Atrophy Atrophy is defined as a reduction in the mass of a muscle. There are three possible causes for atrophy, so it is said that there are three types of atrophy. ____________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ Disuse atrophy occurs when a muscle is not required to do as much work as it had been accustomed to. The body breaks down muscle components to use elsewhere in the body, resulting in a reduction in muscle size. As the muscle is smaller and less active, its requirements for nutrients and oxygen are lower allowing the body to function more . Disuse atrophy is seen where chronic pain/lameness or confinement cause an individual to reduce to activity of a muscle or muscles. A clear example of disuse atrophy is the reduction in
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