This Is in in Depth Look at Muscular Dystrophy

Muscular Dystrophy, crippling disease characterized by gradual wasting of skeletal muscle. The clinical course is progressive, with increased weakness and diminution in muscle mass and function until the patient is confined to a wheelchair; remissions do not occur. Four clinical forms of the disease are recognized, based on pattern of inheritance, age when symptoms are first noted, and distribution of the muscles earliest involved. Microscopic abnormalities of skeletal muscle are found in each type.
In the Duchenne form of the disease, symptoms usually are noted before age five. …