Patterns of Skeletal Muscle Weakness in Various Neuromuscular Disorders

The pattern of skeletal muscle weakness may suggest which neuromuscular diseases to consider.

Patterns of muscle weakness:

(1) proximal muscles

(2) distal muscles

(3) facial muscles

(4) bulbar and palatal muscles

Neuromuscular Disorder	Proximal	Distal	Facial	Bulbar or Palatal
inflammatory myopathy	x			x
muscular dystrophy	x
inclusion body myositis		x
myositis with anti-SRP		x
myotonic dystrophy		x	x
distal dystrophies		x
peripheral neurologic disorder		x
fascioscapulohumeral dystrophy			x
myasthenia gravis			ptosis
mitochondrial myopathy			x
CNS disorder (stroke, etc)			x	x
cranial nerve palsy			x

where:

• anti-SRP = antibody to signal recognition particle

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