Post polio syndrome affects people who survived polio infections many years ago. Post-polio affects each person differently, but common problems include muscle fatigue and loss of stamina. You may experience muscle and joint pain, or have trouble breathing or even swallowing. Swimming may be helpful for post polio syndrome relief, but you must pace yourself, and follow medical advice and warnings.
Basics
Polio or infantile paralysis outbreaks killed or paralyzed many children, as well as some adults in the United States and around the world, until the middle of the twentieth century. Harvard University scientist John F. Enders first successfully cultivated the polio virus, which led to a vaccine for the disease. Today, polio still occurs in some areas of the world, but not in the United States. The polio virus targets and destroys the motor neurons that transmit signals from the brain to the body. Surviving nerve cells eventually take over the job from those destroyed by the virus, restoring motion and breathing ability to some survivors. Later in life, repercussions of the disease can return in the form of weakness and fatigue, among other symptoms.
Exercise and Post Polio Syndrome
Once recovered, polio survivors need activity to maintain muscle tone and cardiovascular health just like the general population. Post polio syndrome, though, poses a particular dilemma as regards exercise. Too much exercise taxes overwrought neurons from the demands you put on them, and high-impact exercise wears down already-weakened muscles and joints, so you must continuously balance exertion benefits versus potential exhaustion.
Swimming Benefits
Swimming can increase your strength and endurance while avoiding stressing your joints. You build strength gently, working against the resistance of water to move across a pool or body of water. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt was a polio survivor and championed water exercise. Warm water allows tense muscles to relax and stretch out, and the buoyancy of water provides a sense of freedom and well-being. Water aerobics and water walking provides alternate swimming exercises that let you work out in a vertical position, ideally under the supervision of a trained instructor.
Considerations
Medical opinion differs, though, about the benefit versus harm of exercise for post polio syndrome sufferers in general. Swimmers with post polio syndrome must take care to stay within their comfort zone to avoid injury and pain, advises MayoClinic.com. No two people experience post polio syndrome the same way, and for some, just the effort of getting to a pool, changing and navigating the locker room may prove exhausting.
Post polio sometimes also impacts your ability to breathe freely, says MayoClinic.com. Chemicals used in the pool disinfection process irritate the lungs of sensitive swimmers, says USA Swimming, so choose a well-ventilated indoor pool, or swim outdoors when the weather permits.
Member Comments