Drug induced muscle disorders

Abstract

Drug induced musculoskeletal disorders can potentially affect the spectrum of anatomical structures including bone, connective tissue and the musculature. Skeletal muscles represent a significant proportion of the body’s mass, receive a large fraction of blood supply, and are metabolically highly active. This tissue therefore has significant exposure to circulating drugs, which has the potential to cause drug induced disorders ranging from trivial myalgias and asymptomatic elevations in creatine kinase through to life threatening rhabdomyolysis with myoglobin induced renal failure. Accepted definitions of muscle related side effects may differ slightly from study to study, though the following definitions are a commonly accepted consensus, and are used throughout this article.