A muscular dystrophy is a group of muscle disease that results in an increasing weakening and breakdown of skeletal muscle over time. Muscular dystrophy is caused by a mutation in the gene that encodes "427-KDa".
Types of muscular dystrophy:
1) Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD)
2) Becker muscular dystrophy
3) Myotonic dystrophy
4) Limb-girdle muscular dystrophy
5) Facioscapulohumeral dystrophy
6) Congenital MD
7) Oculopharyngeal MD
DMD is the most common type
- The disease results from a defect in protein present in muscle fiber k/as Dystrophin
- Males are the victim, females are the carrier
- Gower's sign is an important symptom
- Other symptoms-poor balance, scoliosis, progressive inability to walk, waddling gait, calf deformation, limited ROM, respiratory difficulty
- No cure for any form of muscular dystrophy
Physiotherapy can play an important role:
- Physiotherapy helps slow the depression of range of motion.
- Muscle strength
- Activity daily living
- Work to improve gait pattern/ posture
- Stretching - can be a combination of active and passive stretches
- Cope up with muscle extensibility and muscle contracture