Muscular System Diseases

Muscles are very important part of our body. Without muscles the body will lose its ability to move and carry out various actions. In fact, without the human muscular system, we probably won't be able to survive. This is because most of the organs in the digestive system are made up of muscles and even our heart that keeps pumping blood is a muscle. If the muscular system is affected by any disease or disorder, it leads to many minor and in some case major health problems. Not only does the muscular system diseases affect mobility, but also causes many other functional problems. Let us look into the details of diseases of the muscular system.

There are over 650 muscles in the human muscular system. Each muscle has a specific role to perform. These muscles help us talk, walk, sit, run, eat, move about, hold things, and most important the continuous pumping of the heart muscles keeps us alive. Muscular system diseases cause many problems in the human body, that affects the mobility and functioning of various parts of the body. The muscular system diseases list is very long as there are number of disorders that affect the human body. Let us have a look at the muscular system diseases and learn a bit about the disorders of the muscular system.

Muscular Dystrophy
This is a genetic disease is a group of inherited muscle disease that causes damage to muscle fibers. The symptoms of muscular dystrophy disease include weakness, loss of mobility and lack of coordination. The most common diseases classified as muscular dystrophy are Duchenne, Becker, limb girdle, congenital, facioscapulohumeral, myotonic, oculopharyngeal, distal, and Emery-Dreifuss. The basic fact about muscular dystrophy is that there is no specific cure for muscular dystrophy.

Cerebral Palsy
Cerebral Palsy is one of the muscular system diseases where a persons posture, balance and motor functions are affected. Brain damage during or before childbirth causes loss of muscle tone, causing problems carrying out physical tasks in children. It is one of the most common congenital disorders.

Fibrodysplasia Ossificans Progressiva
This is a very rare congenital disorder that causes the soft tissues to become hard like bones permanently. This causes the muscles, tendons, ligaments as well as other connective tissues to grow bones between the joints. Thus, leading to permanent restriction of movement. There is no effective Fibrodysplasia Ossificans Progressiva (FOP) treatment and pain is controlled using medications.

Dermatomyositis
The inflammatory myopathy that leads to chronic muscle and skin inflammation is called dermatomyositis. This is a progressive autoimmune disease of the connective tissues that causes muscle weakness. The dermatomyositis symptoms include muscle pain, hardened calcium deposits under the skin, gastrointestinal ulcers, intestinal perforations, lung problems, fever, fatigue and weight loss. It leads to a red or violet colored skin rash on the face, hands, knees, chest and back. There is no cure for this progressive muscle weakness but can be controlled using corticosteroids and immunosuppressive drugs.

Compartment Syndrome
Chronic compartment syndrome caused by compression of the blood vessels, nerves and muscles within a closed area of the body. This causes tissue death due to lack of oxygen. The compartment syndrome symptoms include severe muscle pain, feeling of tightness in muscles, paresthesia, paralysis, etc. Treatment involves immediate surgical treatment, called fasicotomy. This helps in relieving the pressure on the muscles and helping them become normal again.

Myasthenia Gravis
Myasthenia gravis is a chronic autoimmune disease characterized by muscle weakness and fatigue. There is a breakdown of the neuromuscular junction and thus, brain loses control over these muscles. The myasthenia gravis symptoms and signs include drooping eyelids, difficulty swallowing, muscle fatigue, breathing difficulty, inability to control facial expressions, etc. Medications and surgical intervention are a part of myasthenia gravis treatment.

Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis
Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis is a serious neurodegenerative disease. This disease is also known as the Lou Gehrig's disease. In this disease, the motor neurons destroy that leads to loss of control over voluntary muscle movement. The early symptoms of ALS include difficulty to swallow, breath and speak. Paralysis is an advanced Lou Gehrig's disease symptom.

Mitochondrial Myopathies
Mitochondrial myopathies is a condition where the mitochondria, the powerhouse of cells, is damaged. The symptoms of this neuromuscular disease include muscle weakness, heart rhythm abnormalities, deafness, blindness and heart failure. In some cases, it leads to seizures, dementia, drooping eyelids and vomiting. Other symptoms include breathing difficulty, nausea and headache.

Rhabdomyolysis
Rhabdomyolysis is a condition where there is rapid skeletal muscle destruction. This causes the muscle fibers to breakdown into myoglobin that is released into the urine. This leads to kidney failure as myoglobin is dangerous to the kidney. Rhabdomyolysis symptoms include muscle weakness, stiffness, and pain. If detected early, there is a possibility of rhabdomyolysis treatment. Treatment includes use of intravenous fluid, dialysis as well as hemofiltration in severe cases.

Polymyositis
Polymyositis is an inflammatory and degenerative muscular system disease. This is a systemic connective tissue disease that causes symmetric weakness and muscle atrophy to some extent.

Fibromyalgia
The debilitating, chronic muscle disorder is called fibromyalgia. It is characterized by pain, fatigue and many other symptoms like tenderness and stiffness of the muscles. It is seen affecting more women than men and is thought to be a genetic condition.

Myotonia
Myotonia is a condition where the muscles relax slowly after contraction and stimulation. The symptoms of myotonia include trouble while releasing a grip, walking and difficulty in getting up after sitting or sleeping. Medications, anticonvulsants and physical therapy is involved in treatment of myotonia.

Myofascial Pain Syndrome
Myofascial pain syndrome is a chronic muscle pain disorder. It is characterized by aches, pain and burning sensation around sensitive points of the muscles called the trigger points. One may also feel joint stiffness, area of tension like a knot and sleep problems due to severe pain. Use of corticosteroids, botulism toxin injections, massage therapy and physical therapy help in management of myofascial pain syndrome.

There are a few other neuromuscular system diseases that may affect people. Some of these neuromuscular diseases are categorized according to their site of origin.

Congenital Muscular Diseases

• Central core disease
• Centronuclear myopathy
• Congenital fiber type disproportion myopathy
• Nemaline myopathy
• Multominicore disease
• Myotubular myopathy
• Autophagic vacuolar myopathy
• Zebra body myopathy
• Cap disease
• Hyaline body myopathy

Neuromuscular Junction Diseases

• Lambert-Eaton Syndrome
• Myasthenia Gravis
• Piriformis Syndrome

Peripheral Nerve Diseases

• Charcot-Marie Tooth Disease
• DeJerine-Sottas Disease
• Friedreich's Ataxis

Spinal Muscular Atropies

• Infantile Progressive Spinal Muscular Atrophy
• Intermediate Spinal Muscular Atrophy
• Juvenile Spinal Muscular Atrophy
• Adult Spinal Muscular Atrophy

Metabolic Diseases of the Muscular System

• Acid Maltase Deficiency
• Carnitine Palmityl Transferase Deficiency
• Myoadenylate Deaminase Deficiency
• Debrancher Enzyme Deficiency
• Phosphoglycerate Kinase Deficiency

Rare Muscular System Diseases

• Central Core Disease
• Hyperthyroid Myopathy
• Periodic Paralysis - Hypokalemic - Hyperkalemic
• Myotubular Myopathy
• Nemaline Myopathy
• Myotonia Congenita
• Paramyotonia Congenita

These were some of the diseases of the muscular system. These muscular system diseases can cause many debilitating conditions that reduce productivity and limit mobility. It is important to seek early medical help to control the diseases before the progress. Hope the above article has helped you learn all about the different disorders of the muscular system.