Progressive muscular dystrophy, clinical symptoms

Progressive muscular dystrophy has become a very common disease in our lives. Suffering from this disease may have a great impact on our lives, and the incidence of this disease is very wide. So what are the symptoms of this disease? Let’s learn about it together.

1. Children with duchenne muscular dystrophy have slower motor development than normal children, such as learning to walk late, staggering gait, inability to run, and often falling for no reason. The symptoms become increasingly obvious at the age of 3 to 5. Due to weak pelvic girdle muscles, the child cannot jump or run, has difficulty climbing stairs, has an abnormal walking posture, excessive protrusion of the lumbar spine, and the pelvis swings to the sides, showing a typical "duck gait".

2. Limb-girdle muscular dystrophy is an autosomal recessive type that is more common, with an early onset and more severe symptoms. The disease begins in childhood, adolescence or adulthood, and is characterized by muscle atrophy and weakness of the pelvic girdle muscles and shoulder girdle muscles, making it difficult for patients to climb stairs, squat or raise their upper limbs, and they develop winged scapulae. Facial muscles are generally not affected.

3. Facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy: Facial muscle weakness is the first symptom, but because the onset is insidious and the symptoms are mild, they are often ignored. The symptoms include weakness when closing the eyes or the eyes being white when closed, shallow nasolabial groove when showing teeth, inability to whistle or puff the cheeks, thickening and outward-turned lips, and a typical myopathy facies. Some cases are complicated by exudative retinitis and neurological hearing loss.

4. Oculopharyngeal muscular dystrophy has an onset age of 40 to 60 years old. The main symptoms are bilateral ptosis, which is usually symmetrical. Some patients have incomplete ophthalmoplegia. Weak throat muscles, difficulty swallowing, and dysarthria. The facial muscles, temporalis muscles, and masticatory muscles may also be slightly weak. The disease progresses slowly, but dysphagia may lead to malnutrition or death from aspiration pneumonia.