MUSCULAR CHANGES

1. PRIMARY FLACCIDITY
2. RIGOR MORTIS / CADAVERIC RIGIDITY
3. SECONDARY RIGIDITY/RESOLUTION
 PRIMARY FLACCIDITY
• Somatic death
• Contact flattening
• Muscle irritability &response to mech/elect stimuli
persists
• Peristalsis ,ciliary movements, WBC movements
may be present
• Focal twitching +nt-dying neurons
• Loss of sphineter tone
• Muscle protoplasm slightly alkaline
 RIGOR MORTIS
• Rigor mortis is the stiffening of muscles after
death.
• In forensic pathological practice, the intensity of
rigor mortis is assessed on a pure subjective basis,
meaning whether skeletal muscles offer resistance
when joints are moved (flexion/extension).
• Post-mortem rigidity is characterized by a loss of
muscle elasticity and plasticity, an increase in
stiffness, and shortening of muscle length.
 Phases of rigor mortis
1st phase -delay period
2nd phase -onset phase(reversible)
3rd phase-rigor(irreversible)
4th phase -resolution
 MECHANISM OF RIGOR MORTIS
• It is a physico-chemical change in muscles due to lack of oxygen
• Muscles are composed of myofibrils, which are again composed of myofilaments.
• Two types of myofilaments : actin and myosin
• Under the influence of adenosine triphosphate (ATP), actin and myosin form a contractile
compound, actomyosin.
• With decrease of ATP levels post-mortem(85%), actin and myosin enter into a nonshiftable
and rigid state of adhesion until, under the influence of autolysis and putrefaction, protein
disintegration of the myofibrils leads to loosening of rigor mortis (secondary relaxation)
• Maximum rigidity at ATP levels of 15%
• Lactic acid -.3%
• Sources of ATP-1)Phosphagen system
2)glycogen-lactic acid system
3)aerobic system
• Onset of rigor mortis is earlier and more rapidly progressing in red muscles than in white
muscles, which has been attributed to ATP levels falling more rapidly after death in red
muscles than in white muscles
 ORDER OF APPEARANCE
• Shapiro-Rigor mortis develops in all muscles at the
same time and at the same speed. However, because
of the different diameters of the muscles involved,
post-mortem rigidity becomes noticeable at first in
smaller muscle groups
• Nysten’s rule-descends from the head to the shoulder
girdle and arms and then to the legs, greater
diameter of the muscle groups located at joints that
are located farther downwards the body and
disappears in the same order in which it has appeared
 Time of onset and duration
Time of onset Duration
• India • India
begins 1-2hrs after death winter-lasts 24-48hrs
further 1-2hrs to develop summer-lasts18-36hrs
• Temperate countries • Temperate regions 2-3days
begins 3-6hrs after death
further 2-3hrs to develop
 Testing of rigor mortis

-lifting of eyelids
-depressing jaw
-bending of neck and joints
 Post mortem changes
• Heart -Myocardial hypertrophy
-ante mortem dilatation/myocardial deg
-systolic/diastolic stoppage
• Skin –cutis anserina/goose skin
• Testes drawn up
• Seminal ejections
• Expelling of fetus from uterus
c
 Factors affecting rigor mortis
Early onset Late onset
• Cholera, typhoid, TB, cancer • Asphyxia
• firearms, electro, lightning • Sev hemorrhage
• cutthroat
• Apoplexy
• Strychnine poisoning
• Pneumonia
• OP poisoning
• Nervous disease
• CO poisoning –delays
disappearance • Normal saline perfusion
• Cold weather • Resting and healthy
• Children and old people muscles
Early disappearance Late disappearance
• Strychnine poisoning • CO poisoning
• Bact inf –gas gangrene • Healthy and resting
• Children and old people muscles
• Cold weather
Absent rigor mortis
• Fetus of less than 7 months of age
• Septicemia
• Advanced states of multiple sclerosis,
amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or Duchenne
muscular atrophy
 Medico legal importance
• Helpful in determining whether a body has been moved after death. If a body is found in an
illogical posture, this means a body position that would not have been maintained under the
influence of gravity (primary relaxation of the muscles after death), this position implies that
the body has been moved after the development of rigor mortis
• Examination of the palms and the inside aspects of the fingers becomes difficult so that
current marks or defence injuries located here may be overlooked
• In infants and children, a marked dilation of the anal orificium may be observed post-
mortem . As mentioned before, immediately as death occurs and preceding the onset of rigor
mortis, the whole body musculature loses its tone. In children a dilated anal orificium
(because of the loss of tone of the musculature immediately as death occurs) may be fixed by
rigor mortis, and this finding may even persist after rigor mortis has faded. Therefore, anal
dilation alone is not a sufficient marker for penetrative anal abuse of children prior to death
• Muscle relaxation immediately after death with opening of the eyes and the mouth with
subsequent fixation in rigor mortis may give the face a somehow grimace-like look post-
mortem. However, one cannot predict from the face of a deceased, as often assumed by the
unaware, whether this individual’s last moments were of fear or fright
 CONDITIONS SIMULATING
1. Heat stiffening
2. Cold stiffening
3. Cadaveric spasm
 Heat stiffening
• >650 C
• More marked than that found in rigor mortis
• Depends on intensity and duration for which
applied
• Burning ,high voltage electric shock, fall into hot
liquid
• Mechanism- denaturation and coagulation of
muscle protein
• Cooked meat appearance
 Cold stiffening
• Due to freezing of body fluids and
solidification of subcutaneous fat
• When forcefully flexed-ice cracking in synovial
fluid
• If again placed in warm temp-rigor appears
rapidly and passes off quickly
• Medicolegal importance-subcut fat hardening
in infants simulates ligature mark
Cadaveric spasm/Instantaneous rigor
• Complete rigor mortis
occuring at the moment
of deathand involving a
hand ,limbor even an
entire body
• No stage of primary
relaxation
• Single group of
voluntary muscle
 Causes ,mechanism and MLI
• Suddendeath • Mechanism –
• Excitement 1.Neurogenic,
• 2.Adrenocortical
Fear
exhaustion
• Severe pain
• Medicolegal importance-
• Exhaustion
1.Weapon
• Cerebral haemorrhage
2. Material evidence
• Firearm wounds of head 3.Antemortem drowning
• Convulsant poisons