Skeletal muscle decline is the first symptom to appear in DMD, arising by the time patients begin to learn to walk, around 3–5 years of age.4 Early symptoms include fatigue, difficulty standing resulting in the Gower Maneuver, difficulty walking, running and jumping, as well as frequent falls and a characteristic ‘waddling’ or Trendelenburg gait.5 Official diagnoses are made by testing blood for levels of elevated creatine phosphokinase, and by genetic testing for mutations in the dystrophin gene. The gene discussed is DMD; the disease is Duchenne muscular dystrophy.