Abnormal posturing is an involuntary flexion or extension of the arms and legs, indicating severe brain injury. It occurs when one set of muscles becomes incapacitated while the opposing set is not, and an external stimulus such as pain causes the working set of muscles to contract. The posturing may also occur without a stimulus. Since posturing is an important indicator of the amount of damage that has occurred to the brain, it is used by medical professionals to measure the severity of a coma with the Glasgow Coma Scale (for adults) and the Pediatric Glasgow Coma Scale (for infants).
The presence of abnormal posturing indicates a severe medical emergency requiring immediate medical attention. Decerebrate and decorticate posturing are strongly associated with poor outcome in a variety of conditions. For example, near-drowning victims that display decerebrate or decorticate posturing have worse outcomes than those that do not. Changes in the condition of the patient may cause him or her to alternate between different types of posturing.
Read more about Abnormal Posturing: Causes, Types, Prognosis, History
Famous quotes containing the words abnormal and/or posturing:
“Your Englishman, confronted by something abnormal will always pretend that it isnt there. If he cant pretend that, he will look through the object, or round it, or above it or below it, or in any direction except into it. If, however, you force him to look into it, he will at once pretend that he sees the object not for what it is but for something that he would like it to be.”
—James Agate (18771947)
“These are the fifties, you know. The disgusting, posturing fifties.”
—Hannah Arendt (19061975)