Someone in my immediate family has been diagnosed with Lambert Eaton syndrome, which is a very rare disease that affects something like 400 people in the US. It often occurs with a cancer but not always, and in this case there is no cancer involved. In this instance the disease is compounded by inactivity, severe obesity, and a number of other health problems. The treatment for Lambert Eaton is currently pretty limited consisting of a few possible medications. I am wondering if anyone on this forum has any experience with trying to do resistance training with Lambert Eaton patients. Because it is a syndrome that disrupts the way nerves talk to muscles, perhaps that means resistance training is impossible. Though, on the other hand, perhaps those connections could be improved through regular use? I’m no medical expert but am very impressed by the BBM content and approach, so would be grateful for any advice anyone has on this.
You are correct that LEMS is a rare autoimmune condition that impacts the ability of nerve signals to cause muscles to fire, somewhat similar (although with a few distinct differences) to myasthenia gravis. There are a few medical treatments available for the condition that should be discussed with a specialist.
There are no studies on the role of physical therapy for LEMS; however, there is some evidence in the context of other neuromuscular disorders indicating benefit from exercise therapy. One unique feature of LEMS (compared to myasthenia gravis) is that while muscle contractions may be difficult to initiate, this ability improves with repeated contraction (as would be done in a set of multiple reps). The physiology behind this suggests to me that exercise, including resistance training, would be worthwhile for such patients. The key, as with anyone else, is to tailor the prescription to the individual’s starting abilities and goals.