Condition guide · Duchenne & Becker muscular dystrophy

Duchenne or Becker muscular dystrophy: find a team that knows Duchenne care.

Duchenne care takes a whole team — neuromuscular, heart, lungs, bones — working to shared standards. We find the certified Duchenne care centers and experienced neuromuscular clinics near you, each checked on their current hospital or university page (and we tell you when a site couldn't be checked), and tell you exactly who to call and what to ask.

Check if we can help — $149 only after we confirm

$149, one time. You pay only after we confirm we can cover your case · report by email within 3 business days of payment · 14 days of email questions included.

Not helpful? Tell us within 7 days. We redo the research free — and if it still doesn't help, we refund you in full.

Why the right team matters with Duchenne and Becker

Duchenne and Becker affect more than the muscles you can see. The team you choose follows your family through every stage.

The heart and lungs are part of it.NINDS, part of the National Institutes of Health, lists impaired breathing and heart problems (cardiomyopathy) among the symptoms of Duchenne, and notes that heart problems in Becker are less common or severe than in Duchenne — but they do occur. That is why Duchenne care involves cardiology and pulmonary specialists, not only a neurologist.
There are shared care standards — and centers certified to follow them.The CDC Care Considerations for Duchenne, published in 2010 and updated in 2018, cover respiratory, cardiac, bone health and orthopedic care, among other areas. Parent Project Muscular Dystrophy (PPMD) runs a Certified Duchenne Care Center Program for centers that meet these standards — and certifies centers, not individual doctors, because it is the team that provides comprehensive, multidisciplinary care.
Not every center runs clinical trials.Research is moving: NINDS notes that the first gene therapy for Duchenne was approved by the FDA in 2023, and trials continue. PPMD says not all certified care centers engage in clinical research, and in 2025 it created a Clinical Research Designation to show which ones do. If trials matter to your family, where you go matters.
Certified is not the only good option.PPMD itself notes that other clinics may also provide optimal care without being certified yet. MDA says its Care Centers, at more than 150 US health care institutions, offer expert multidisciplinary care and clinical trials. We look at all of them and tell you which is which.

Sources (public, linked so you can read them yourself):

What your Duchenne or Becker report contains

A plain-English PDF built for one family — not a list of 200 names.

Duchenne care, in plain words

How care is usually organized — neuromuscular, cardiology, pulmonary, orthopedics, physical therapy, endocrine and bone health — and where to read the published care standards for each stage.

2–3 teams, verified

Certified Duchenne Care Centers, MDA Care Centers or other experienced neuromuscular clinics within reach — each checked on the hospital's or university's own page within days of your report (we tell you if a site couldn't be checked), with certification status spelled out. Plus the closest option to home.

Heart, lungs and bones

Who covers cardiology, pulmonary and orthopedic care at each center, and how the team works together.

Clinical trials near you

Duchenne and Becker trials recruiting now within reach of your state, which centers run research, the contact person and what to ask.

Exactly who to call

Phone numbers, new-patient forms, referral rules, how to send genetic test results and records, and a ready-to-send email plus a 30-second phone script.

Questions to ask

"How many Duchenne patients do you follow?", "Who is our cardiologist here?", "Do you run clinical trials?", "How do you handle the move to adult care?" — plus a one-page visit summary and PPMD and MDA family resources.

Read a full sample rare-condition report

Our rare-condition sample is for Castleman disease (fictional patient; the specialists, programs and links are real and were checked on the report date). A Duchenne or Becker report follows the same structure.

Who we are

WhichSpecialist is an independent research service run by Utku Güneysu (sole proprietorship) in Istanbul, Türkiye. We are not doctors and we never give medical advice — our job is to find the doctors who can.

Every specialist, phone number and link in your report is checked by hand, one by one, on the hospital's or university's own page. AI helps us search US sources first (hospital pages, published research, public data). No doctor, hospital or company pays us. Every email is read and answered by a person.

Utku GüneysuFounder · hello@whichspecialist.com

Find the Duchenne team near you

Tell us the condition and your state. We confirm by email within 24 hours whether we can cover your case — you pay only after that.

Check if we can help — $149 only after we confirm

$149, one time. You pay only after we confirm we can cover your case.

Not helpful? Tell us within 7 days. We redo the research free — and if it still doesn't help, we refund you in full.

Questions

Is this medical advice?

No. We help you find and talk to the right specialists. We don't identify or confirm any condition and we don't recommend treatments — those decisions belong to you and your doctors.

PPMD and MDA already list care centers for free. Why would I pay for this?

PPMD's certified center map and MDA's Care Center list are great free places to start, and we point you to them. What we add: we check that each specialist is still there, who covers heart and breathing care, which centers run trials, and which nearby uncertified clinics have real experience — and give you the exact phone numbers, referral rules, email and questions for your state.

Is this for Becker muscular dystrophy too?

Yes. NINDS describes Becker as less severe than but closely related to Duchenne, usually appearing later. We look for neuromuscular and cardiology teams that follow Becker patients, including adult clinics.

Our teen is moving to adult care. Can you help?

Yes. Tell us in the notes box — we then look for adult neuromuscular programs near you that follow Duchenne or Becker, and include questions about how they handle the handover from children's care.

Do you need medical records?

No. "Duchenne" or "Becker", the patient's age group and your state are enough to start. Please don't send records — if a detail matters, we'll ask by email.

Do doctors or hospitals pay to be listed?

Never. No doctor, hospital or company pays us, and we take no referral fees. You are our only customer.