Correlation among the time to accomplishment different of physical activities for carriers of Duchenne muscular distrophy

Abstract

DMD is a disease determined by genetic disturbance of recessive character linked to the chromosome X, that determines the deficiency or absence in the distrofin production in the muscular cellular membrane, carting a progressive and irreversible dysfunction, mainly of the skeletal musculature. The functional evaluation of the children carriers of DMD is extensive and exhaustive for child and for physical therapist. The search of information and methods that promote the facilitation or simplification of the routines of functional evaluation has been conducting to the research of correlations among the time of development of functional activities. The goal of this study was to determine and to research possible correlations among the time used to realize physical activities (to go up stairway, to go down stairway, to lift of the chair and to pass from sitting on the floor to standing through the Maneuver of Gowers) in 15 children (6 to 10 years old) with DMD. The children were filmed accomplishing the proposed physical activities, in five serial evaluations during one year, separated by a period of three months. The time for each activity was measured for each child. We confirmed the heterogeneity of the evolution of the disease, in the studied activities, as expected. We found lineal relationship among the functional activities and the age, and the presence of direct lineal correlation between the accomplishment of the Maneuver of Gowers and the functional activities. Up stairway was the activity of larger correlation.