Physical and respiratory rehabilitation therapy is associated with significant benefits for patients with myasthenia gravis (MG), according to a recently published study in eNeurologicalSci.
Rehabilitation strategies, especially exercise, have been long been recommended to help with MG symptoms and improve patient outcomes. However, there is a lack of comprehensive studies on the subject or standardized protocols for patients with the disease to follow.
The authors aimed to consolidate existing data to evaluate the efficacy, safety and adherence of rehabilitative interventions in MG. The study focused on physical and respiratory training’s effects on functional capacity, respiratory function and quality of life.
The authors identified and reviewed 445 articles on rehabilitation in MG, ultimately including six studies in their final analysis. The included studies were varied and spanned various ages and MG severity levels. Physical training interventions covered by the studies included aerobic walking, spinal stabilization exercises, home rowing programs and treadmill-based physical therapy. Respiratory training involved muscle conditioning to help with inhaling and exhaling.
The authors found that physical training was associated with both a significant improvement in the ability to perform physical activities and improved quality of life.
The authors observed that the best outcomes were in trials using home-based or structured moderate-intensity interventions three times per week. One high-quality clinical trial also demonstrated marked respiratory function improvements with treadmill training that used a harness to help support a patient’s body weight while they walked.
Respiratory muscle training helped make inhaling and exhaling stronger, although improvements measured by spirometry, a test that measures lung volumes and flow rates, were inconsistent.
Rehabilitation was generally well tolerated by patients, with very few of them experiencing adverse events. Adherence rates exceeded 95% in several trials, particularly those involving home-based programs. However there were some barriers to adherence, such as work obligations and commuting time.
“This review demonstrated the potential of structured rehabilitation programs to improve functioning and quality of life in patients with MG, while highlighting the need for further research to optimize and standardize these interventions,” the authors concluded.
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