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Rigidity is the fixation of a joint by involuntary contraction of muscles, and is of value as a sign of disease in deep-seated joints, such as the hip. It disappears under anæsthesia. Contracture is the term applied when the fixation is due to permanent shortening of the soft parts around a joint muscles, tendons, ligaments, fasciæ, or skin.
It is a frequent accompaniment and sometimes a cause of deformities, in the treatment of which lengthening of the shortened muscles or their tendons may be an essential step. #Myositis.# Ischæmic Myositis. Volkmann was the first to describe a form of myositis followed by contracture, resulting from interference with the arterial blood supply.
An obliquity of the bone may result when one half of the epiphysial cartilage is destroyed and the other half continues to form bone, giving rise to such deformities as knock-knee and club-hand. Deformity may also result from vicious union of a pathological fracture, permanent displacement of an epiphysis, contracture, ankylosis, or dislocation of the adjacent joint.
Further changes may take place, and result in the transformation of the muscle into fibrous tissue, which by undergoing shortening may cause deformity known as paralytic contracture.
Should recovery take place, repair is usually attended with union of the opposing articular surfaces either by fibrous tissue or by bone. #Conditions of Impaired Mobility of Joints.# There are four conditions of impaired mobility in joints: rigidity, contracture, ankylosis, and locking.
The Relation of Neurotherapy to Other Manipulative Systems Osteopathy, chiropractic, naprapathy, neurotherapy and spondylotherapy, as we have learned, are various systems of maipulative treatment which have been devised mainly to correct spinal and other bony lesions, shrinkage and contracture of muscles, ligaments and other connective tissues.
Ankylosis is the term applied when impaired mobility results from changes involving the articular surfaces. It is frequently combined with contracture. The resulting stiffness, therefore, varies from a mere restriction of the normal range of movement, up to a close union of the bones which prevents movement.
In a case of spastic contracture of the pronator muscles of the forearm, for example, an incision is made along the line of the median nerve above the bend of the elbow.
Various forms of pyogenic infection are met with in muscle, most frequently in relation to pyæmia and to typhoid fever. These may result in overgrowth of the connective-tissue framework of the muscle and degeneration of its fibres, or in suppuration and the formation of one or more abscesses in the muscle substance. Repair may be associated with contracture.
Syphilitic contracture is a condition which has been observed chiefly in the later secondary period; the biceps of the arm and the hamstrings in the thigh are the muscles more commonly affected. The striking feature is a gradually increasing difficulty of extending the limb at the elbow or knee, and progressive flexion of the joint.
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