A  MYO-AUTOBIOGRAPHY    (Back to contents)


I am a skeletal muscle. I am authorised to work for life term in the
skeletal country. Despite the saying, " Beauty lies in the eyes of
beholder", most times I am the only secret ' behind ' the victory of Ms.
World or Ms. Universe. If I choose to atrophy , it is most likely that
their heads wont be crowned. When I was a kid running around, people of
all ages pinched me ( buccinator) and when I was a teen,men secretly
pinched me ( gluteus maximus ) in places like Pallavan bus of Madras
city.

Whether I am normal, spastic, flaccid or rigid, I wake up with a prayer
to my God of energy,      " ATP " the adenosine tri-phosphate. I then
get ready wearing my anatomical suit, my skin coat, fascial shirt and a
tendon tie. I work under a corporate business system. My immediate
supervisor is Mr.Nerve who spits aceetyl-choline on me in order to get
me to work. Yikes.... But. Hey...That's the way it  works. My regional
supervisor is Mr. Spinal Column while the President of all muscular
operations is Mr.Cerebrum.

Married to Mr.Bone, we both work in the same company, the "Joint Inc ".
I am one of those 2  work  forces that move  the joint. People term it a
Rupture if I tear up and call it a Fracture if my husband is broke.
Occassionally, we end up in a dislocation which to me is a
musculo-skeletal -divorce.

My life movie  is full of unexpected Twists and Twitches. Sprains and
Strains are my villains. Cramps are my painful and uninvited  guests.
Excess Fat is my enemy who is unfortunately my neighbour too. But I care
less about these,  becos I have these wonderful Physiotherapists who can
retrieve me from any harm . Standing out from the rest of the medical
crowd, it's the PT who does both, the Tx prescription and actual
hands-on treatment. God...I love them.

Each of my fibres are thinner than a human hair and can support a
thousand times it's own weight. I can change chemical energy into
mechanical energy and remain toned whenever one is conscious. Typically
my army consists of nearly 639 muscles which are all fed by muscle
glycogen.It's depletion causes us to lose the battle and that's when we
embrace the failure, ie.. the  Fatigue.

I make up about half the body's weight .My shapes vary from a triangle
to a slender cable. My natural stimulus is from the nerve impulse. Other
times I contract only when artificially stimulated through injury or
electricity. PT's therefore treat me with an "e-stim" if I have a
partial or complete paralysis. The funny part about the PT is when he
tells his patient, " No. Dont be afraid. It is just going to be like an
ant-bite." The patient then gets ready for the ant-bite.... The current
after a brief interruption, takes a very generous flow and it's only
then the patient's face deforms to grotesque shapes. If I could speak I
would have yelled out  that it was a bee-sting rather than an ant-bite.


I like my own contractions better, whether it be an isotonic or
isometric. There is no agony in being an agonist or an antagonist. It
feels good to be a normal muscle. But there are times when I am
unfortunately faced with an invasion of a "Contracture". My only hope
then is the Physiotherapist as he knows where I originate, where I
insert and therefore knows where and how to stretch.

Like everybody, I have my own fantasies. If I am given a chance to be a
muscle of some of the celebrities of the world, whom do you think I will
choose ? Here's my list of " I wish I were....."

-- an Orbicularis Oris of Aishwarya Roy
-- a  Biceps Brachii of Arnold Schwazernegger
-- a Serratus Anterior of Mohammed Ali
-- a Mentalis of Albert Einstein
-- a Levator labii superioris alaeque nasi of Elvis    Presley.
-- or at least the gluteus maximus of the famous    good old South
Indian actress......


Sometimes I wish I were a cardiac muscle. Perhaps a cardiac muscle of
Mother Theresa....... But again I have absolutely no regrets of having
lived as a skeletal muscle and probably will never have one.

Beyond the misery that comes from a Muscular dystrophy or a Myasthenia
gravis, there is one thing I  dread most  ....and that is the state of
" Rigor Mortis " as that would be the end of my tiresome, but yet
interesting and adventurous journey.



Raveendran Thangavel
Senior PT
Ontario County, NY
USA.
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