Increasing awareness of Myology: it's time for its recognition as an independent discipline within the Medical Sciences

In 1891, Charcot and Bouchard – two eminent French scientists – published a famous textbook of Internal Medicine (1), which included large chapters dedicated to all branches of Medicine and Neurology. The medical specialties , as we know them today, are all derived from the Internal Medicine during the 19 th century. J.M. Charcot, who first argued the need for a specialist to direct the Chair of Mental Disorders at the Salpetrière Hospital in Paris, performed all necessary steps – scientific, institutional and political – to claim and obtain for himself the creation of the first Chair of Nervous and Mental Diseases of the Old Continent in 1882 (2, 3). The same fate befell during the 20 th century in other disciplines, such as Myology (from latin myos " muscle " and logia, " lo-gy ") is the science that studies muscles, their physical structure, type of fibers, specific function, and the connections between different muscle groups. Interest of myology are also muscle disorders. For most of the 20 th century, Myology was considered as a little part of Neu-rology, while currently it is recognized as an autonomous discipline both at the research and the medical level. From a research point of view, we have witnessed the birth and flourishing of new scientific societies, such as and numerous conferences concerning muscular disorders In particular the annual meetings of the World Muscle Society and Italian Association of Myology have been this year at their 20 th and 15 th edition, respectively, while the biannual meeting of the Mediterranean Society of Myology will see its 12 th edition in Naples. Similarly, the number of papers focusing on the different aspects of myology and of scientific journals specifically dedicated to myology is in a continuous and constant increase. A search in PubMed, under the heading " muscle " reported, at the date of 13 April 2015, 912119 papers and under the heading " muscle disorders " 168,931 papers, in a similar fashion the first scientific journals Muscle & Nerve, Furthermore the textbook " Myology " edited by An-drew Engel (that is) considered the " bible " for lovers of Myology, has reached its third edition. In the meantime the attention to the care needs of people living with muscle diseases increased so that many Clinical Centers of Myology were created, achievive international fame. To be mentioned among others the Center of Car-All these …