PNS CONDITIONS Flashcards
ACUTE HERPES ZOSTER - DEFINITION
- Commonly known as shingles
- Shingles is a viral infection that causes an outbreak of a painful rash or blisters on the skin
- It is caused by the same virus that causes chicken pox
ACUTE HERPES ZOSTER - CAUSE
- Shingles is caused by the varicella-zoster virus
- This is the same virus that causes chicken pox
ACUTE HERPES ZOSTER - POPULATION AFFECTED
- Typically affects older people and those who are inane suppressed
ACUTE HERPES ZOSTER - RISK FACTORS
- Having a weakened immune system
- Over 50
- Been recently ill
- Experienced trauma
- Under stress
ACUTE HERPES ZOSTER - CLINICAL PRESENTATION
- Fever
- Chills
- Headache
- Feeling tired
- Sensitivity to light
- Stomach upset
- An itching, tingling or burning feeling in an area of your skin
- Redness on the skin in the affected area
- Raised rash in a small area of the skin - Fluid-filled blisters that break open then scab over
- Mild to severe pain in the area of skin affected
ACUTE HERPES ZOSTER - DIAGNOSIS
- Shingles can be diagnosed by the way the rash is distributed on the body
- The blisters of a shingles rash usually appear in a band on one side of the body
ACUTE HERPES ZOSTER - PROGNOSIS
- Can be a very painful condition
- If shingles involves the eye it can lead to blindness
UPPER MOTOR NEURONE - DEFINITION
Upper motor neurons originate in the cerebral cortex and descend through the spinal cord, where they interact with lower motor neurons
UPPER MOTOR NEURONE S&S
- Weakness with minimal or absent associated atrophy
- Hyperactive reflexes
- Increased muscle tone
- Spasticity
- Rigidity
- Minimal paralysis of voluntary movement
- Tremor
- Chorea
- Random involuntary contractions of the extremities
- Athetosis
- Slow, irregular movements in the distal extremities
- Dystonia
- Sustained, involuntary twisting movements
- Positive Babinski’s and Hoffman’s reflexes
LOWER MOTOR NEURONE - DEFINITION
Lower motor neuron lesions are lesions anywhere from the anterior horn of the spinal cord, peripheral nerve, neuromuscular junction, or muscle. This type of lesion causes hyporeflexia, flaccid paralysis, and atrophy.
LOWER MOTOR NEURONE - CAUSE
Most common cause is trauma to peripheral nerves that serve the axons, and viruses that selectively attack ventral horn cells
LOWER MOTOR NEURONE - S&S
- Weakness - limited to focal or root innervated pattern
- Muscle atrophy (wasting) - prominent in a focal pattern
- Reflexes - absent or reduced in a lower motor neuron lesion
- Fasciculation’s present in the associated muscle group - Fasciculations = muscle twitching
- Babinski sign absent - downward going digits
- hypotonia or atonia - tone is not velocity dependent
RADIAL NERVE IMPINGEMENT - DEFINITION
- Impingement of the radial nerve
- The nerve travels from the armpit down the back of the arm to the hand
- It helps to move the arm, wrist and hand
RADIAL NERVE IMPINGEMENT - DAMAGE CAUSED BY
- Broken arm bone and other injury
- Diabetes
- Improper use of crutches leading to excess pressure in the armpit
- Lead poisoning
- Long-term or repeated constriction of the wrist
- Long term pressure on the nerve, usually causes by swelling or injury of nearby body structures
- Pressure to the upper arm from arm positions during sleep or coma
RADIAL NERVE IMPINGEMENT - S&S
- Abnormal sensations in the back and thumb side of the hand, or in the thumb, 2and 3fingers
- Weakness of fingers
- Loss of coordination of fingers
- Problem straightening the arm at the elbow
- Problem bending the hand back at the wrist or holding the hand
- Problems in the areas controlled by the nerve
- Pain
- Numbness
- Decreased sensation
- Tingling
- Burning sensation
RADIAL NERVE IMPINGEMENT - PROGNOSIS
- In most cases the impingement can be treated successfully with a good chance of full recovery
- Sometimes no treatment is needed
- Medications can be used if needed
- Over the counter prescription px medications
- Corticosteroid injections around the nerve to reduce swelling and pressure
- Supportive splint
- Elbow pad
- Physical therapy to maintain the muscle strength in the arm