Muscle Diseases

Muscle diseases occur in all age groups and can cause serious physical disability. Their impact is especially severe when children and young adults are affected. The needs of these patients are numerous and complicated, and frequently not adequately met. Some muscle diseases respond well to medical treatment, while many of the physical disabilities can be improved or prevented. Hence, although muscle diseases are not as common as neurological disorders such as stroke or epilepsy, they deserve our full attention.

Types of muscle diseases

There are many different forms of muscle diseases, with different causes and outcome, and requiring different treatments. They can be divided into two major categories.

• Genetic
  These are related to a gene disorder. The genetic muscle diseases include a wide range of diseases, the best known of which are the muscular dystrophies. Other genetic muscle diseases include congenital myopathies, storage myopathies, mitochondrial diseases and periodic paralyses.
• Non-genetic
  The muscle diseases which are not genetic (i.e. acquired) are also diverse. The most important among these are the inflammatory muscle diseases in which the body’s own immune system inappropriately injures its muscles. A related immune mediated disease is myasthenia gravis. Other non-genetic muscle diseases may be due to drugs or hormonal disorders.