Myositis is a type of muscle inflammation and can be caused by infection, injury, certain medicines, exercise and chronic disease. Some of the chronic, or persistent, forms are idiopathic inflammatory myopathies. There are a number of types of myositis, they include:

Dermatomyositis (DM)
Inclusion-body myositis (IBM)
Juvenile forms of myositis (JM)
Polymyositis (PM)

As research continues into the causes, symptoms and effects of this disease, new forms of myositis are brought forward.

There are currently treatments for all forms of myositis except for inclusion-body myositis. The other forms of myositis can be treated but only about 20% of people affected make a full recovery, flare ups are often common over the span of a lifetime. What's More is that many doctors across Canada have seen so few cases of myositis that often patients go undiagnosed or misdiagnosed which leads to complications and at times a longer recovery period.

For more information about Myositis and current research initiatives, check out the website of our friends in the United States at www.myositis.org.

There's more information in our brochure which can be downloaded as a PDF (English and French).