Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) usually affects men. However, women are also 
affected in rare instances. Approximately 8% of female DMD carriers have muscle 
weakness and cardiomyopathy. The early identification of functional and motor 
impairments can support clinical decision making.
OBJECTIVE: To investigate the motor and functional impairments of 10 female 
patients with dystrophinopathy diagnosed with clinical, pathological, genetic 
and immunohistochemical studies.
METHODS: A descriptive study of a sample of symptomatic female carriers of DMD 
mutations. The studied variables were muscular strength and functional 
performance.
RESULTS: The prevalence was 10/118 (8.4%) symptomatic female carriers. Deletions 
were found in seven patients. The age of onset of symptoms in female carriers of 
DMD was quite variable. Pseudohypertrophy of calf muscles, muscular weakness, 
compensatory movements and longer timed performance on functional tasks were 
observed in most of the cases. Differently from males with DMD, seven female 
patients showed asymmetrical muscular weakness. The asymmetric presentation of 
muscle weakness was frequent and affected posture and functionality in some 
cases. The functional performance presents greater number of compensatory 
movements. Time of execution of activities was not a good biomarker of 
functionality for this population, because it does not change in the same 
proportion as the number of movement compensations.
CONCLUSION: Clinical manifestation of asymmetrical muscle weakness and 
compensatory movements, or both can be found in female carriers of DMD 
mutations, which can adversely affect posture and functional performance of 
these patients.