Atrophy

A muscle grows thinner. An organ shrinks. Tissue that was once alive, well-supplied with blood, ready to work, withdraws — becomes less, grows quieter, partly disappears. That is atrophy. The medical definition is sober: regression of tissue through disuse, disease, disrupted nerve supply, or cellular malnutrition.

But the deeper question remains open. Why does your body withdraw energy from an area? Why does the system decide: this tissue, this organ, this muscle is no longer needed to the extent it once was — so we cut off its supply? The body is economical. It does not break down what it uses. It breaks down what it no longer uses. And that is precisely where the message lies.