Brain Advance Access published online on October 29, 2008
Brain, doi:10.1093/brain/awn264
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© The Author (2008). Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Guarantors of Brain. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org
Scientific Commentary |
Train, train, train! No pain, just gain
Unit of Molecular Neurogenetics
Center for the Study of Children's Mitochondrial Diseases
Pierfranco and Luisa Mariani Foundation
‘C. Besta’ Institute of Neurology
IRCCS, Milan, Italy
Correspondence to:
E-mail: zeviani@istituto-besta.it
| The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below. |
Physical training in myopathy: yes or no? This highlights a long-standing dilemma, and one that is still a matter of debate and controversy. Is it beneficial, at least to avoid muscle deconditioning, or detrimental, even harmful, because of the mechanical stress imposed to wrecked myofibres?
An initial consideration is that little attention has been given to the different responses to training that the various myopathic conditions can produce. A second, consequential one, is that lack of unequivocal results and flaws in the training protocols let physicians take a somewhat empirical attitude—dictated by personal inclinations, common sense, indulgence toward patient compliance or just prudence inspired by ‘primum non nocere - first do not harm’, an old evergreen precept (Hippocrates, 460–377 BC). In many cases, the final persuasion is that physical exercise is not recommended, through anxiety over the risk of damaging an already compromised muscle, or even triggering acute episodes