In this episode of Your Child’s Brain, Dr. Brad Schlaggar is joined by his Kennedy Krieger colleague, Dr. Doris Leung, to discuss a set of diseases of muscle that we refer to collectively as muscular dystrophy (MD). Muscular dystrophy is actually a group of rare genetic diseases that cause progressive weakness and degeneration of muscles. Overall, the muscular dystrophies vary in age of onset, severity, and the pattern of the affected muscles. A general principle shared by all forms of MD is that they grow worse over time as muscles progressively degenerate, atrophy, and weaken.
For more information about muscular dystrophy, these resources might be helpful:
· Kennedy Krieger Center for Genetic Muscle Disorders https://www.kennedykrieger.org/patient-care/centers-and-programs/center-for-genetic-muscle-disorders
· Parent Project Muscular Dystrophy https://www.parentprojectmd.org/
·Myotonic Dystrophy Foundation https://www.myotonic.org/
· FSHD Society https://www.fshdsociety.org/