Struggling onward, one painful, unsteady step at a time, at least he is still walking on his own for now, albeit encumbered by leg braces and crutches. The tragedy is particularly poignant, however, because he is only ten years old, not aged. In two years he will almost certainly be confined to a wheel chair. He is not expected to live through his twenties.

He is one of approximately 300,000 Americans afflicted with Muscular Dystrophy, part of a group of musculoskeletal diseases that affect people of all ages and both sexes.

Common muscle diseases include a variety of dystrophies, myalgias and myopathies, as well as multiple sclerosis and certain heart-related conditions. Some definitions of terms describing these conditions may make it easier to comprehend the specific diseases discussed below. They include:

Myo = muscle
Pathy = death/ destruction/ severe illness
Poly = many or multiple
Dystrophy = disorder involving progressive muscle weakening and tissue loss
Myalgia = chronic pain, ranging from aches to acute discomfort
Myopathy = destruction of muscle
Myositis = inflammation of muscle
Polymyositis = widespread inflammation of the body's muscles

The scope of this article doesn't allow for an in-depth look at a large number of the plethora of diseases and conditions prevalent in modern society, so we'll just review the most common and devastating of those diseases being diagnosed.

Muscular Dystrophy strikes primarily the young and attacks more men than women. There are nine variations of MD, ranging from Congenital, which strikes at birth, to Oculopharyngeal, which comes on from middle age to as late as 70. Duchenne, beginning between ages two and six, is the most common and is deadly, crippling and killing by the twenties.

Muscular Dystrophy is an inherited disease that is characterized by weakness and wasting of muscle tissue and may cause the breakdown of nerves as well. All varieties cause weakness and disability and are inherited the same way.

MD is the result of a defect in a gene which normally enables muscle fibers to manufacture a protein called dystrophin. The disease typically begins with wasting of muscle in the hipbone area followed by problems in the shoulders. Eventually weakness and wasting attack the trunk, move on to the forearms and spread to other areas of the body.

Depending upon the particular variety of the disease, symptoms generally include difficulty walking, climbing stairs and rising from

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