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Disuse atrophy is a medical phenomenon for the reduction in bulk of a tissue whose function has reduced (for whatever reason).

The best example is a broken leg in plaster, when this is removed after 6 weeks the leg is skinny, the muscle is reduced the bone itself is thinner.

It happens in my work inside the mouth when teeth are lost. The bone surrounding the teeth reduces as it’s no longer required. The body is a fantastic recycling tool.

I think disuse atrophy occurs though with skills, with thought process, with intuition and creativity.

The more you practice these things (to a point – and it’s always the bell curve!) the better they get, but the converse applies.

After just a short time of ‘vegging out’, chilling, relaxing or doing nothing the skills in these areas start to reduce. Your ability to perform tasks you could perform easily previously need to be built back up again.

As always it’s balance, it’s always about balance. To leave your leg unused for 6 weeks is to be left with a useless leg that takes time and effort to build back up to function, to smash it though, against an oncoming vehicle at 60mph is to apply too much pressure to damage it forever.

Over stimulation is well documented in terms on psychological illness and breakdown; disuse atrophy perhaps less so.

Blog post number: 1444