Disorders of the Skeletal Muscle

The clinical conditions affecting the skeletal muscle tissue are broadly categorized as musculoskeletal and neuromuscular disorders.

Musculoskeletal disorders are fairly common across age groups. They comprise skeletal muscle and associated connective tissue injuries from biomechanical stresses.

While in some cases, even mundane activities like excessive walking, prolonged sitting, and lifting objects can injure a muscle or tendon; most injuries are either accidental or caused due to overuse.  

A sudden event like accidental slipping or intense exercise is likely to damage muscle fibers and cause muscular strains.

In contrast, repetitive movements, such as overuse of the knee and wrist in basketball players can result in inflammation of the local tendons, a condition called tendonitis.

Neuromuscular disorders affect neurons controlling the voluntary muscles or muscle-neuron interactions.

They often have a genetic cause and generally affect most or all muscles in the body.

Muscular dystrophies such as Duchenne muscular dystrophy leads to gradual weakness and loss of muscle mass due to genetic mutations.

On the other hand, myasthenia gravis is an autoimmune disease that affects the neuro-muscular junctions.