This fact sheet was provided by Jim Partington, courtesy of M.D.A. of New South Wales Australia. All the fact sheets are in the process of being updated by Prof. Graeme Morgan Medical Director of M.D.A. New South Wales and head of the muscle diseases clinic at the Prince of Wales Hospital in Sydney.
Peripheral neuropathies are one category of neuromuscular diseases.
Neuromuscular diseases affect muscle function because of something wrong in the pathway from the spinal cord to the muscle fibres, which is the final stage for messages from the brain to the muscles. Messages from the brain cells are transferred to cells in the spinal cord called anterior horn cells. Neuromuscular diseases can arise at the anterior horn cells, in the peripheral nerves, at the myoneural junctions or in the muscle fibres. In peripheral neuropathies, the trouble is in the peripheral nerves. The list of causes is enormous.