shivering

shivering /shiv·er·ing/ (shiv´er-ing)

1. involuntary shaking of the body, as with cold.

2. a disease of horses, with trembling or quivering of various muscles.

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shivering

[shiv′əring]

involuntary contractions of muscles, mainly of the skin, in response to the chilling effect of low temperatures. Shivering may also occur at the onset of a fever when the body's heat balance is disturbed.

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shivering [shiv´er-ing]

involuntary shaking of the body, as with cold. It is caused by contraction or twitching of the muscles, and is a physiologic method of heat production in humans and other mammals. As a form of aerobic skeletal muscle activity, vigorous shivering uses about as much energy as riding a bicycle or shoveling snow. Weak or debilitated patients tolerate this activity poorly. Patients commonly feel helpless when experiencing contractions of muscles normally under voluntary control. Increased metabolic rate and oxygen demand caused by shivering are particularly stressful for patients with heart or lung disease. Cold-induced shivering is stimulated when body temperatures drop below the thermostatic range or “set point” governed by the hypothalamus. Shivering in fever occurs not because body temperatures fall but because the set point range is driven by the pyrogen. The more vigorous the shivering, the higher the fever is driven up. Heat loss from skin is a dominant stimulus.

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shivering

see shiver, stringhalt.

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shivering

The involuntary contraction of skeletal muscle due to exposure to cold or fright, or which is temporally related to the onset of fever