Atrophy is the wasting of tissue, muscle or nerve cells. It is a symptom of many medical conditions. Atrophy most often occurs in the muscles, although it can also occur in the brain, organs, mucous membranes (moist lining of body passageways) and nerves. People who have atrophy may also experience dementia, seizures, paralysis and aphasia (loss of language skills).

Atrophy can be caused by various factors such as:

• Disease (e.g., muscular dystrophy, polio)
• Age
• Injury
• Lack of exercise

Treatment of muscular atrophy often relies on physical therapy to rebuild the muscle mass. Brain atrophy (cerebral atrophy) may recover on its own as the brain cells regenerate. However, the damage caused by brain atrophy may be permanent.