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ATONIA

Atonic seizures (also called drop seizures, drop attacks, or akinetic seizures), are a minor type of seizure. They consist of a brief lapse in muscle tone that are caused by temporary alterations in brain function. The seizures are brief - usually less than fifteen seconds. They begin in childhood and may persist into adulthood. The seizure itself causes no damage, but the loss of muscle control can result in indirect damage from falling. Electroencephalography can be used to confirm diagnosis. It is minor and relatively common, and can be indicative of Lennox-Gastaut syndrome (see Henri Gastaut).

Atonic seizures can occur standing, walking or sitting, and are often noticeable by a head drop (the neck muscles releasing) and damage sometimes results from hitting the face or head. For the actual seizure, as with common epileptic occurrences, no first aid is needed, except in the instances where falling injuries have occurred.

Exercise for atonic peeps:

The exercise lasted 30 min and had an A-B-A design:

(A) During the first 10 min, the patients were sitting

relaxed on an ergometer cycle with open eyes (baseline

period); (B) the patients exercised for 10 min on the

ergometer cycle (exercise period); with the workload

steadily increased according to the patients’ physical capacity

and their heart rate (HR), aiming at full exhaustion,

i.e., to tolerance, after -10 min of cycling; and (A)

the patients relaxed for 10 min on the ergometer cycle as

in the baseline period (postexercise period).