The term muscular dystrophy, describes a large group of conditions which affect either the muscles, such as those in the arms and legs or heart and lungs, or the nerves which control the muscles.
Muscle disease affects people of all ages, both males and females, and all ethnic groups. Muscular dystrophy is mainly genetically inherited. However, up to a third of cases appear in families with no genetic history of the disease where a gene spontaneously changes.
There are over 60 different identified types of muscular dystrophy. Different conditions affect different muscles, in different ways.
The impact of this muscle degeneration varies significantly; some people may only find it difficult to carry out day-to-day tasks while others may have a shortened life expectancy because of their condition.
The Muscular Dystrophy Campaign produces fact sheets giving specific information on the different types of muscular dystrophy and other neuromuscular conditions.
There is no known cure for muscular dystrophy but treatment is essential for increasing life expectancy and enhancing an individual's quality of life.
Research is continuing, with the aim of finding new drugs and therapies to help treat specific conditions, to enable people to walk and ultimately to prolong life.
Because each condition and individual is different, treatment through physiotherapy needs to be specific and tailored to the individual. The aim of physiotherapy is to strengthen and maintain muscle strength for as long as possible. Physiotherapy helps each person to make the most of their muscle function, to manage pain and to enable individuals to remain as independent and as active as possible.
Due to the amount of people they see and the huge variety of conditions they treat the Physiotherapists at The Neuromuscular Centre are experts in assessing an individuals needs and tailoring a treatment plan to those needs.