symptoms of brain spinal cord and nerve disorders
brain, spinal cord, and nerve disorders
Weakness
As people age, the amount of muscle tissue and muscle strength tend to decrease. These changes occur partly because older people may become less active but also because the production of the hormones that stimulate muscle development decreases. Thus, for older people, bed rest during an illness can have a devastating effect. Compared with younger people, older people start out with less muscle tissue and strength at the beginning of the illness and lose muscle tissue more quickly during the illness. Medications are another common cause of weakness because older people take more medications and are more susceptible to side effects of medications (including muscle damage and problems with nerves). When evaluating older people who report weakness, doctors also focus on conditions that do not cause weakness but interfere with balance, coordination, vision, or mobility or that make movement painful (such as arthritis). Older people may mistakenly describe the effects of such conditions as weakness. Regardless of what is causing weakness, physical therapy can usually help older people function better. 