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I need some help explaining something......


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After spending a half hour looking for just the 'right place' to post this video, I decided that since it was going to involve an A&P discussion, this would be the right place to start.

I showed a funny video to someone...

th_dead_body.jpg

Now, I'm in a bind trying to explain how the electrical stimuli to the muscles in the cadaver would still cause the involuntary muscle movement.

I've shown Luigi Galvani's experiments on dead frogs to help explain this phenomenon, but I still cant convince my friend that it IS possible to elicit involuntary movement in 'dead people'...

I'm asking anyone and everyone that might be able to explain this in laymans terms for your help.....

Thanks!

LS

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Ok. Here's my attempt at this. You know that muscles contract due to nerve impulses, correct? The nerve impulses are a result of depolarization and ion shift, which is essentially the same thing as an electrical impulse. Ergo, with these motor nerves, if you flood the system with high levels of electricity, the nerves are going to fire.

Now, even dead muscles have residual ATP, which is the energy unit by which things are done. With these muscles, with this store of ATP left, the ATP can still be used by the tissue, and the muscles can contract.

Make any sense at all?

Wendy

CO EMT-B

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OK, everyone who went to Paramedic school and read Dubin's book has got to know why this works. Remember where he talks about the experiment with the frog legs?

You mean the way that Luigi Galvani would make frog's legs dance by electrical stimulation. Some called it a "supernatural" feat.

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