exercise and CMT

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(Older article on neuromuscular disease and exercise; mentions CMT)

Abstract from Med Sci Sports Exerc 1984 Oct;16(5):460-5

Effect of training on the exercise responses of neuromuscular disease

patients.

Florence JM, Hagberg JM.

Patients with neuromuscular diseases have low levels of cardiovascular

fitness and they fatigue rapidly during daily activities. The purpose of

this investigation was to determine whether patients with

slowly-progressive or non-progressive neuromuscular diseases could

complete a 12-wk training program without untoward responses, and

develop cardiovascular training adaptations. All eight patients

completed the training program with better than 90% compliance. Resting

creatine kinase and myoglobin in the group as a whole showed no change

with training, though two patients did have definite elevations after

training.

Their VO2max increased by 25 +/- 5% with training and their relative

increase in O2max was not different from that of healthy subjects

undergoing the same training. Heart rate reductions during submaximal

exercise were somewhat delayed or non-existent in the two patients with

Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease, a hereditary neuropathy. However, the six

patients with myopathies had heart rate adaptations similar to those in

healthy subjects. Thus, some patients with slowly-progressive or

non-progressive neuromuscular diseases can undergo exercise training and

in many cases demonstrate adaptations not different from those in

healthy subjects. Patients with different diseases, however, need not

respond uniformly, in terms of training adaptations or markers of muscle

damage. Therefore, each disease must be considered individually.