The Magic Bullet for the Polymyocitis Patient

Polymyositis (PM) is found mostly in people over the age of 20 and seems to affect more women than men. Muscle weakness usually happens over days, weeks or months. The weakness begins with skeletal muscles closest to and within the trunk of the body. Neck, hip, back and shoulder muscles are examples. Some patients also have weakness in muscles farther from the trunk, like hands and fingers. Some PM patients experience muscle pain, breathing problems, and trouble swallowing.

I have been working with a Polymyocitis client named Beverly for over 2 years and have had great success in improving your overall functionality. She is more confident with her ambulation skills and has improved her upper body strength to the point where she can comfortable go on cruise vacations and drive her self around.

The most amazing changes are evident in her chemistry panel when looking at Creatine Kinase (an enzyme which degrades muscle fiber and soft tissue) Before Beverly began a formalized exercise program CK levels where through the roof as high as 1000! After several months of training they have plummeted to the low 100's A 90% reduction.

More recently she has taken up wheel chair dancing as a new hobby to inspire those less fortunate than her.

My exercise prescription for Beverly has been both aquatic in the early stages of therapy to more spine stability exercises, rotator cuff strengthening, and core stabilizing movements done on land.

These exercises are performed twice weekly and aquatic hip flexor and adduction exercise are done once weekly. Although there is a lot Doctor's know about Myocitis, they still have very little understanding on how to cure it. hardcore drugs like Methotextrate, steroids and IVIG make very little difference in comfort and functional levels. For some unknown reason therapeutic exercise when done correctly targeting the affected areas seems to have a rehabilitative effect.

For more information on how therapeutic exercise can improve the quality of life, log into our Award winning web site @ www.somagenesis.com