Muscular System

What happens when the Muscular System Fails?


Muscular Dystrophy

Muscular dystrophy is a name for certain types of diseases. The disorders weaken skeletal muscles. Therefore, muscular dystrophies seriously affect movement, posture, and breathing. Skeletal deformities are often associated with this group of diseases. All types of muscular dystrophies are inherited. Doctors have not yet found a cure for any of the muscular dystrophies. There are four main types:

Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy:

The most common type & the most rapidly progressive of childhood diseases.

The first symptoms is having trouble walking from age 2 to 4

Later, the patients fall frequently and cannot run.

The disease eventually evects most muscles of the body

Facioscaoulohumeral & Limb-Girdle Muscular Dystrophy:

Slowly progressive and usually become evident in adolenscence or early adult life.

Facio. affects the muscles of the face, shoulder, and upper arm.

Limb-Girlde affects muscles of the arms, shoulder, legs, and hip.

Mytonic Muscular Dystrophy:

most common adult type

Mymptoms may appear at ANY age.

Symptoms may include muscle weakness in the arms, hands, fingers, feet, and lower legs

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Patient with Muscular Dystrophy. (Duchenne)

Parylization, Cramps, & Muscle Spasms

Parylization- Your muscle paralysis happens when something goes awry with the passage of messages between your brain and muscles. A paralyzed muscle is caused by a loss or impairment to a neural or muscular mechanism.

Normal muscle function requires communication all along the motor pathway, a chain of nerve cells that runs from your brain through the spinal cord and out to your muscles.  A complete interruption of communication anywhere along the pathway prevents muscle movement.  Your muscle(s) is paralyzed

Cramps- Muscles function through an amazing coordination of many elements. Occasionally, however, the normal operation of muscles is disturbed. For example, a person may experience painful cramps of certain skeletal muscles of he or she excersices too hard or for a long time. Skeletal muscle cramps involved spastic muscle contractions. No one knows exactly why such cramps occur. They  probally result from having too much or too little salt in the fluids surronding the muscle fibers. In severe cases, the soreness may last up to four days. Cramps also may develop in smooth muscle organs, such as the stomach and intestine. Doctors use heat, massage, and medicines in treating cramps.

Muscle Spasms- A sciatica muscle spasm is the most painful of all back and leg pain symptoms. Spasms occur when a muscle contracts violently and uncontrollably, ever tightening in a vice-like grip of shear agony. Once a patient experiences severe muscle spasms, they are forever frightened of a recurrence and this fear often actually contributes to a repeat performance of the dreaded contraction episode.

A muscle spasm generally occurs when the muscle is injured and not functioning properly or when it is deprived of proper circulation. Sciatica patients can experience muscle spasms in their lower back, buttocks, legs or feet. Back spasms are by far the worst, since they completely debilitate the patient. It is virtually impossible to even move when being victimized by a powerful lower back contraction. Spasms in the legs or feet are equally troubling, but slightly less disabling and are very much like a charlie horse one might experience from running.


Arthrogryposis, Temporomandibular Joint Disorder, & Myopathy

Arthrogryposis- Arthrogryposis is a term used to describe a number of rare, non-progressive conditions characterized by stiff joints and abnormal muscle development. It is also referred to as arthrogryposis multiplex congenita or amyloplasia. The exact cause of arthrogryposis is unknown, though a number of different theories have been proposed. Some believe that arthrogryposis is caused by mechanical obstructions to intrauterine movement during pregnancy. Others believe that it may be a result of an early viral infection during development. Still others believe that arthrogryposis is the result of failure of the central nervous system and/or muscular system to develop appropriately. Arthrogryposis is not thought to be a genetic or hereditary condition.

Temporomandibular Joint Disorder- Temporomandibular joint and muscle disorders, commonly called "TMJ," are a group of conditions that cause pain and dysfunction in the jaw joint and the muscles that control jaw movement. We don’t know for certain how many people have TMJ disorders, but some estimates suggest that over 10 million Americans are affected. The condition appears to be more common in women than men. For most people, pain in the area of the jaw joint or muscles does not signal a serious problem. Generally, discomfort from these conditions is occasional and temporary, often occurring in cycles. The pain eventually goes away with little or no treatment. Some people, however, develop significant, long-term symptoms.The temporomandibular joint connects the lower jaw, called the mandible, to the bone at the side of the head—the temporal bone. Muscles attached to and surrounding the jaw joint control its position and movement.

Trauma to the jaw or temporomandibular joint plays a role in some TMJ disorders. But for most jaw joint and muscle problems, scientists don’t know the causes. For many people, symptoms seem to start without obvious reason. Research disputes the popular belief that a bad bite or orthodontic braces can trigger TMJ disorders. Because the condition is more common in women than in men, scientists are exploring a possible link between female hormones and TMJ disorders.

Myopathy- It is one of the disorders of the muscular system which is characterized by muscle weakness resulting from improper functioning of the muscle fibers. The different muscle disorders like stiffness, muscle cramps, and spasms could also be associated with myopathy. There are many types of myopathies and hence, treatments differ with different myopathies. The treatments for myopathy could be those which target the specific cause or the ones which deal with symptoms only. Physical Therepy, drug therapy, accupuncture, surgery and bracing for support are some of the treatments used for myopathy.




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TMJ Disoder