Diagnosis and treatment of neuromuscular disease

There are over 50 treatable conditions that can produce signs and symptoms of fatigue, weakness, sensory complaints, or muscle atrophy [Table 3]. The examiner should be able easily to identify, by history and physical examination, the affected site of the motor unit causing the patient's syndrome. Following this, by using other aspects of the history and physical examination, the clinician can decide which are treatable disorders by appropriate selection of the laboratory studies. Thus, any patient who complains of neuromuscular symptoms can be approached as if he had a potentially treatable disorder and not merely as a diagnostic curiosity.