Abstract

Striated muscle is an organized tissue that utilizes chemical energy to perform physical work, generated through muscle contraction. Proper muscle tone is essential for efficientShadrin, movement and basic bodily functions. Clinical practice categorizes muscle tone alterations as hypertonia, an increase in tone in skeletal and/or smooth muscles, and hypotonia or flaccidity, a decrease skeletal muscle tone. These terms are widely used in rehabilitation denote decreased muscle tone. This study examined the etymological origins of the terms Hypotonia and Flaccidity and their respective definitions. Etymological research utilized the Diccionario M & eacute;dicobiol & oacute;gico, hist & oacute;rico y etimol & oacute;gico and Diccionario Latino-Espa & ntilde;ol Espa & ntilde;ol-Latino. Spanish definitions were sourced in Diccionario T & eacute;rminos M & eacute;dicos de La Real Academia de Medicina de Espa & ntilde;a; Diccionario de la Lengua espa & ntilde;ola; Diccionario Panhisp & aacute;nico T & eacute;rminos M & eacute;dicos; Biblioteca Nacional M & eacute;dica and Biblioteca Virtual de Salud de Centro Latinoamericano y del Caribe. The clinical use of these terms was assessed through neurology articles per authors' criteria. Consequently,Hypotonia Hypotonia is deemed the more suitable term for describing decreased muscle tone in rehabilitation contexts. Depending on the lesion's origin, terms lik e Cntral Hypotonia and Peripheral Hypotonia may be used when structures associated with the central or peripheral nervous systems are affected, respectively. It is suggested that these terms be adopted in clinical practice teaching when addressing alterations in central or peripheral nervous systems resulting in reduced muscle tone.