OBJECTIVE This review is an account of the physiological issues involved in the effects of pH on vascular smooth muscle tone. The following criteria were considered when reviewing the literature: (i) the type of smooth muscle, i.e. either tonic or phasic, (ii) the source of the smooth muscle i.e. pulmonary, systemic, large artery, resistance artery, vein or cell line, (iii) the effects of chang...

Diazepam (Valium), which meets most of the above requirements extremely well, is a tranquillizer of the benzodiazepine class, causing muscle relaxation and reduction of skeletal muscle tone (Ranidall, Heise, Schallek, Bagdon, Banziger, Boris, Mol, and Abrams, I96I). This action appears to be mediated through the central nervous system, for it can be shown that the stimulation of muscle through ...

The control of tonic muscular activity remains poorly understood. While abnormal tone is commonly assessed clinically by measuring the passive resistance of relaxed limbs, no systems are available to study tonic muscle control in a natural, active state of antigravity support. We have developed a device (Twister) to study tonic regulation of axial and proximal muscles during active postural mai...

The diastasis of the rectus abdominis muscle (ARMD) is a physiological change that occurs in female body due to pregnancy, hormonal changes, mechanical stress on abdominal wall by fetal growth and displacement organs. Physiotherapy plays very important role, promoting stimulation mainly pelvic muscles improve tone.

Across the entire human body, postural tone might play its most critical role in the body's axis because the axis joins the four limbs and head into a single functioning unit during complex motor tasks as well as in static postures. Although postural tone is commonly viewed as low-level, tonic motor activity, we hypothesized that postural tone is both tonically and dynamically regulated in the ...

[Purpose] The main purpose of this study was to identify the impact of rib cage joint mobilization and chest wall stretch on respiratory muscle tone and stiffness and chest expansion in stroke patients and to compare the effects of both interventions. [Subjects and Methods] Subjects were randomly assigned to a rib cage joint mobilization group (n=15) or a chest wall stretch group (n=15). Respir...

[Purpose] This study aimed to examine the immediate effects of kinematic taping on the tone and stiffness in the leg muscles of subjects with flexible flat feet. [Subjects and Methods] A total of 30 subjects, 15 in the kinematic taping and 15 in the sham taping group, were administered respective taping interventions. Subsequently, the foot pressure and the tone and stiffness in the tibialis an...

BACKGROUND This short report arose from a follow-up study of children previously diagnosed with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) encephalopathy and spastic diplegia and is among the first to describe that increased lower limb muscle tone in children with a confirmed HIV encephalopathy diagnosis may resolve over time in some cases. RESULTS Of 19 children previously diagnosed with HIV encepha...

BACKGROUND Appropriate levels of skeletal muscle tone are needed to support routine motor behaviors. But, the brain mechanisms that function to couple muscle tone with waking behaviors are unknown. We addressed this question by studying mice with cataplexy--a condition caused by a decoupling of motor and arousal behaviors. Cataplexy is characterized by involuntary loss of muscle tone during wak...