Live Life Team
Muscular Dystrophy refers to a condition wherein disability and weakness is caused by the slow and progressive muscle wasting. There are several types of muscular disorders, each different from the other on the basis of their level of severity and the symptoms caused.
Some of the types of Muscular Dystrophy are:
Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy: this is the most severe and most common type of muscular dystrophy. It is caused by a lack of production of a protein called dystrophin, caused by a defective gene. It leads to weakness in the muscles and causes movement problems mostly in young children.
Becker Muscular Dystrophy: this is a meeker form of the above mentiones Duchenne muscular dystrophy, that is more common among boys than girls.
Limb-girdle Muscular Dystrophy: this type of muscular dystrophy includes about 15 alternative muscle disorders. It is common among boys and girls, affecting the shoulder girdle and hip girdle muscles in the beginning.
Facioscalpulohumeral Muscular Dystrophy: this commonly occurs in both, males and females, initially affecting the face, shoulder and the upper arm muscles. At times even the leg muscles are affected.
Oculopharyngeal Muscular Dystrophy: this dystrophy affects the eye and throat muscles. The initial symptoms are facing a difficulty in swallowing and droopy eyelids.
Myotonic Dystrophy: this is most common among adults. It affects the smaller muscles, like the face, neck, and jaw and hand muscles. This kind of dystrophy may take place anytime between birth and old age.
Symptoms of Muscular Dystrophy
The severity and symptoms of Muscular Dystrophy vary according to type of condition that the person has and the age of the person when the symptoms were first felt. Some of the most common symptom of muscular dystrophy is:
- Problems in breathing
- Clumsiness
- Difficulty in walking
- Difficulty in standing
- Frequently falling
Causes of Muscular Dystrophy
Mostly Muscular Dystrophy runs in the family. They are usually caused by changes (mutations) in the genes that are involved in the structure of the muscles. In a few cases, both the parents have the defective gene which is further passed on. This is called Recessive Inheritance. On the other hand, dominant inheritance refers to the condition when it passes on only through one parent.
Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy: this is passed on by the mother, by a defective gene in the female chromosome. This condition requires two X chromosomes to be present in girls and one to be present in boys.
Becker Muscular Dystrophy: this is caused by changes in a gene in the X chromosome. It has milder symptoms than those of the Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy. About nominal amounts of dystrophin are produces, but delicate variations in the muscular structure affect the functions of the muscles adversely.
Other kind of Muscular Dystrophy – Myotonic Dystrophy is the result of a Dominant Inheritance. The limb-girdle muscular dystrophy, a defective gene is passed on by both the parents. Facioscalpulohumeral muscular dystrophy follows the pattern of a dominant Inheritance.
