Heart Murmurs

Physiology:

• Split S2 - it sounds like a normal heart beat with a sort of solid drum beat and can be heard clearly. The difference is there is no second beat heard and this is caused by respiration. 
• Venous - the audio appears to sound like slow beats like that from a horse's hooves. There is a raspy sound in the background as well and is caused by turbulence in the jugular veins, usually found in children due to narrow veins under the collarbone.

Systolic:

• Pulmonary Stenosis - there is an obvious raspy sound with the heart beat, almost sounding like a suction cup or the noise you hear when you get water in your ears. Possibly there is some fluid caught inside the lungs and surrounding areas.
• Late Aortic Stenosis - has a sort of suction cup effect or even sounds like a force pump of something. This is caused when the aortic valve becomes more narrow and the left ventricle has to increase pressure to pump blood out through the valve.

Diastolic: 

• Aortic Regurgitation - reminds me of a techno song beat or a ball bouncing on industrial aluminum sheets. It is clear enough to hear but obviously not the best heart murmur to have. This murmur is produced as the blood flows retrograde back into the left ventricle.
• Mitral Stenosis - there is a crackling sound in between beats and while it may just be the audio, if it isn't then that sure isn't good. There also seems to be a delay in the beats. The main cause of mitral stenosis is an infection called rheumatic fever, which is related to strep infections.   

Rubs, Gallops and Continuous:

• Friction Rubs - sounds very murky and like a wave hitting the shore. This is caused by the beating of the heart against an inflamed pericardium or lung pleura 
• Patent Ductus Arteriosis - reminds me of what you hear when you go underwater in a pool. Sounds murky with every beat as well. The cause of patent ductus arteriosus isn't known.Genetics may play a role in causing the condition. A defect in one or more genes might prevent the ductus arteriosus from closing after birth. 

 Lungs:

• Normal - sounds like a normal beat except with a bit of a trill at the end each time. There may be some fluid inside, but otherwise sounds like breathing and heartbeats. 
• Wheezing - sounds like a stomach growling, or like a balloon deflating. The person must have a hard time breathing with some fluid inside their lungs. This could be from bronchitis or even pneumonia.

Ch. 6 Muscle Song

(To the tune of "Do You Know the Muffin Man?")



Do you know body movements, body movements, body movements?
Do you know body movements like flexion at the knee?




 


Do you know a facial muscle, facial muscle, facial muscle?
Do you know a facial muscle like zygomaticus?








Did you learn muscle tissues, muscle tissues, muscle tissues?
Did you learn muscle tissues like smooth and cardiac?















Do you know a trunk muscle, trunk muscle, trunk muscle?
Do you know a trunk muscle like Pectoralis Major?

Exploring Mr. Mink's Muscles

  

Naming Muscles By Their:

1.  Location in the body Biceps Brachii

2.  Shape Trapezius

3.  Origin and insertion  Brachioradialis

4.  Size  Pectoralis Major

5.  Action Flexor Carpi Ulnaris

6.  Position  Rectus Abdominus  

7.  Direction External Oblique

Muscular Dystrophy: Observing Facioscapulohumeral Muscular Dystrophy

All the muscular dystrophies are caused by problems with the information in genes and chromosomes. A gene is a little piece of information that tells your body what to do or what to make. A chromosome is like a package or container that holds all the genes. However, different areas of the body are targeted and at different stages in life. 

Facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy affects the face, area of the shoulders and upper arms. It is mostly discovered during adolescence and the severity can vary in every case. The first symptoms affecting the face can be noticed when actions like whistling, smiling or even drinking with a straw is difficult to do. Also, if affected around the eyes, some cannot close their eyes fully while sleeping, causing dry eyes and other eye problems. For shoulders, the protruding shoulder blades is a key symptom. Actions such as throwing a ball or raising your arms can prove difficult if diagnosed with Facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy. As time progresses, the disease can worsen and begin to spread to other areas of the body.

1 in 20,000 people is diagnosed with Facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy. It results from a deletion of genetic material from a region of DNA known as D4Z4. The D4Z4 region normally consists of 11 to more than 100 repeated DNA segments, each of which is about 3,300 DNA base pairs (3.3 kb) long. However, in people with Facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy the D4Z4 region on one copy of chromosome 4 is abnormally short, containing between 1 and 10 repeats. Therefore, it is a genetic disease inherited in an autosomal dominant pattern, which means one copy of the shortened D4Z4 region in each cell is sufficient to cause the disorder.

Unfortunately, there is no known cure for facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy. Treatments are given to control symptoms and improve quality of life and activity is encouraged. Inactivity such as bedrest can actually make the muscle disease worse. Therapy treatments such as oral albuterol to increase muscle mass (but not strength), speech therapy, and sometimes surgery to fix a winged scapula. Continuation of these treatments, along with muscle activity and exercises, allows the patient to feel less pain and also helps prevent or at least slow down the spreading. Fortunately, the disorder does not decrease a person's lifespan but it does prevent mobility.

 
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Acupressurist: No Needles Required

There exist many medical methods to relieve tension, knots and improve circulation by manipulating the muscles. A masseuse focuses on using different methods of massage to relieve the client of tension and other pains that can be healed with a massage. Their main focus involve the back, the neck, arms and legs. An acupressurist uses pressure to pinpoint certain areas of tension in any part of the body, without using needles like acupuncturists do. While they have certain differences, there are more similarities between all three professions, the main goal being to relieve and improve a client or patient's circulation.

This blog, however, focuses on acupressurists and how they help in the world of medicine. Becoming an acupressurist is quite simple, but a profound patience and passion for helping people is required. While in school, college and/or high school, it is important to take an anatomy class to study how the body works and most importantly, how the nervous system works hand in hand with the muscular system. After receiving at least an A.S., you can enroll into a massage school and become a certified acupressurist.

The hardest thing about being an acupressurist is finding a job that will not only train you, but pay you at the same time. Internships are pretty abundant (it is free work, after all) but actual jobs may be hard to come by unless you have great networking skills. However, if you were to find a job, the median pay for acupressurists stands at about $81,830 a year and at around $39.94/hour nationally.

The manner in which acupressurists do their services is that they apply a certain amount of pressure and kneading on a certain point in the body where the patient or client feels pain. The more developed the muscles are, the more pressure you should apply. The technique used for acupressure is using your middle fingers, the longest and strongest finger of the fingers, and putting pressure on a specific point to relieve pain. If when relieving pain in one point the pain moves to another spot, pressure should also be applied there because the two areas could be related (especially if it's a muscle like the trapezius).   









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