1. When a suicide victim was found, the coroner was unable to remove the drug vial clutched in his hand. Explain the reason(s) for this (in detail). If the victim had been discovered three days later, would the coroner have had the same difficulty? Explain.
2. Assume you have a 10 lb. weight in your right hand. Explain why it is easier to flex the right elbow when your forearm is supinated then when it is pronated.
3. Jim was seriously out of shape the day he joined his friends for a game of touch football. While he was running for the ball, his left calf began to hurt. He went to the clinic the next day and was told he had a strain. Jim insisted that this must be wrong because his joints did not hurt. Clearly, Jim was confusing a strain with a sprain. Explain the difference.
4. After playing pick-up hockey for several hours the evening before, Marcia was rudely awakened in the middle of the night with severe tightening of her thigh muscles. The pain was so intense that she could barely move. Carefully stretching her leg out and massaging it eventually brought the pain level down to a manageable point and she was able to go back to sleep, though there was still a dull ache. Explain what had happened and possibly why it occured.
5. Mrs. DeStephano has been admitted to the hospital, and the following notes have been made on her chart regarding her skeletal musculature :
· severe lacerations of the muscles of the right leg and knee
· damage to the blood vessels serving the right leg and knee
· transection of the sciatic nerve (the large nerve serving most of the lower limb), just above the right knee
· strains of the right ankle
Her physician orders daily passive range-of-motion (ROM) exercise and electrical stimulation for her right leg and a diet high in protein, carbohydrates and vitamin C.
a) What complications in muscle healing can be anticipated owing to the vascular (blood vessel) damage in the right leg? Why?
b) What complications in muscle structure and function result from transection of the sciatic nerve? What purpose is served by passive ROM and electrical stimulation of her right leg muscles?
