CGTC FAQs: Academic Support

The muscular system is a complex system of over 600 muscles that facilitate movement, maintain posture, and generate heat.  These muscles are made up of individual muscle fibers that contract and relax to nerve stimulus of a system.  There are three types of muscle in the human body:  skeletal, smooth, and cardiac.  Muscular dystrophy is a group of genetic disorders that cause progressive muscle weakness and degeneration.  It affects both males and females, and can manifest in early childhood or later in life.  Duchenne muscular dystrophy is the most common type of muscular dystrophy, which primarily affects boys and can lead to difficulty walking, breathing, and heart problems.  Other types of muscular dystrophy include Becker muscular dystrophy, myotonic dystrophy, and facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy.  Tetany is a medical condition characterized by involuntary muscle contractions which can lead to muscle spasms, cramps, and stiffness.  It is caused by low Ca2+in the blood, which could come from hypoparathryoidism, vitamin D deficiency, or even respiratory alkalosis.  Tetany can affect any muscle, but is most commonly seen in the hands and feet.  It can be a very painful and uncomfortable condition but is treatable with pain medications.  

Osteoporosis is a bone disease that develops when bone density and bone mass decrease, or when the structure and strength change.  This can lead to a decrease in bone strength which can increase the number of fractures and broken bones.  Osteoporosis is a silent disease because you typically do not have symptoms.  You may not even know you have the disease until you break a none.  Osteoporosis is the major cause of fracture in post-menopausal women and in older men.  Gout is a type of inflammatory arthritis that causes pain and swelling in your joints.  It is due to an accumulation of uric acid crystals.  Arthritis means swelling and redness in your joints.  A joint is where two or more bones meet.  There are more than 100 rheumatic diseases.  Rheumatic diseases include any condition that causes pain, stiffness, and swelling in joints, muscles, tendons, ligaments, or bones.  The two most common causes of arthritis is osteoarthritis.  The most common type.  The second type is rheumatoid arthritis.  This is an inflammatory disease of the joint lining.  Myasthenia gravis is a chronic immune disorder in which antibodies destroy the communication between nerves and muscles resulting in weakness of the skeletal muscles.  Myasthenia gravis affects the voluntary muscles of the body, especially those that control the mouth, eyes, throat, and limbs.  The disease can strike anyone at any age but is more frequently seen in young women age 20-30 and men age 50 or older.

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