Paralysis

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

Paralysis may be localized, or generalized, or it may follow a certain pattern. For example, localized paralysis occurs in Bell's palsywhere one side of the face may be paralysed due to inflammation of the facial nerveon that side. Patients with strokemay 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 lesionsand their sequelae. For example, lower spinal corddamage from a severe back injury may result in paraplegia, while an injury higher up on the spinal cord, such as a neck injury, can cause quadriplegia.

Poisons that interfere with nerve function, such as curare, can also cause paralysis.

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

See also

• Paraplegia
• Quadriplegia
• Muscle relaxant
• Ptosis
• Sleep paralysis
• Hemiparesis
• Beriberi
• Jesse Billauer
• Neuroprosthetics
• Brain-computer interface

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This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License.
It uses material from the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paralysis Wikipedia article Paralysis.