There is no single disease called muscular dystrophy. The term designates a group of hereditary muscle-destroying disorders that vary in inheritance pattern, age of onset, initial muscles attacked and rate of progression.

Muscular dystrophy is a term used to describe a number of inherited disorders characterized by progressive weakness and wasting of the muscles.

The most common and severe type is Duchenne's muscular dystrophy (MD), in which a genetic defect leads to the formation of an abnormal...