Dr. Jon Anning, right, was inspired by his son, Matthew, to pursue research on treatment for Duchenne muscular dystrophy. Jon is a professor at Slippery Rock University and Matthew is a student at Slippery Rock Area High School. Submitted photo.

Jon Anning, a Slippery Rock University professor, has done extensive research on effects and treatment for Duchenne muscular dystrophy and it was inspired by a source close to home.

Anning didn’t know anything about the genetic disorder until his son, Matthew, was diagnosed around 4 years old.

DMD is not unheard of, but it is rare. It is more common in boys, affecting roughly 1 in every 3,500 births, according to available data.

It causes skeletal and heart muscle weakness that quickly gets worse with time. Symptoms usually begin by ages 4 to 6. With no cure, treatment involves managing symptoms and improving quality of life.

Driven by understanding his son’s condition, Anning also developed a desire to help others in the same boat as him, such as parents, siblings or friends with a loved one that have DMD. Anning’s research includes looking for a better understanding in how to treat the condition.

“Coming from an educational perspective, my main goal was to try and get the word out in different ways about looking at treatment for it,” Anning said. “I did a sabbatical to put effort into doing more research. I worked with the occupational therapy program at (the University of Pittsburgh) and did some research on exercise and how it could help.”

When Matthew was diagnosed, there were clinical trials available for the family to get involved with. Anning, an associate professor of exercise science, asked to see the data out of a desire to help his son. He was told he could not see it, as it was part of a research study. This led Anning to begin his own treatment proposal based around whether exercise could be used as a treatment strategy for DMD.

“The more I explored Duchenne muscular dystrophy, the more I realized that I can help more people than just my son,” Anning said.

One of the complications of DMD is that once the muscle is damaged, it does not regenerate properly, making exercise difficult. While steroids and medicines are taken to help patients, exercise is not necessarily viewed as a vital treatment, Anning said.

Anning studied what medications are taken for DMD. From there, he started exploring through his research what exercises would be appropriate for the various stages of DMD, challenging attitudes around its treatment.

“I started realizing that exercise is a good treatment, because it’s the natural body doing it,” Anning said. “Not to say that steroids aren’t needed, but exercise can go with extra things to combat side effects.

Anning had an article published in 2022 that focused on advocacy for exercise as a treatment, and another in 2025 in the Journal of Rehabilitation Practices and Research.

Matthew is now 16 and a student at Slippery Rock Area High School.

“My son loves sports and he did them while he could. Now he’s in classrooms and wants to be like any of the other kids. It’s letting them be who they are, while they’re figuring out who they are,” Anning said. “I didn’t even put time into this until it impacted me personally. I think the biggest thing I can say is that you need to be educated, especially if you do deal with people that live with Duchenne.”