I had an ependymoma (malignant) removed from inside left of my spinal cord c6/c7 close to 28 years ago. If you could see the left side of my body, you would see quite a difference compare to the right side. My left hand and left leg has atrophied over time ... they are much smaller. Every time, I have a hospital stay & I don't stay active, my ability to walk up stairs or get out of a chair or walk short distances is a harder to do. At this point, I've strained a lot of muscles in my lower back ... use 50 Tramadol in the morning to take of the edge of the pain. I still do a lot of physical therapy, I ride a recumbent stationary bike in my garage, and bought electric trike to ride along the ocean. you have to keep working on the strength of your body & try to keep the atrophy at the same level. It's kind of a no win situation but you don't really have any options. I stay away from going down the rabbit hole of thinking negatively. We are only on earth for a short amount of time so we focus on things we can control. I would say that I've tried most of the pain medications & have experienced side effects of being cognitively impaired & addictive (Oxycontin) or extreme constipation. I finally decided 50 mg Tramadol was good once a day (maybe twice a day at most to stay away from constipation).

Sorry for the long note -- muscle atrophy is a big problem.