Neuromuscular diseases
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Last reviewed: July 2016
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Found 83 results
Non-malignant / End Stage Disease
There are many illness that may benefit from specialist palliative input. These include neuromuscular disorders (MS, MND, Parkinsons disease), COPD, heart failure, dementia and other chronic life-limiting illnesses.
Read more on CareSearch website
Brain Foundation | Motor Neurone Disease
Read more on Brain Foundation website
Sever's disease
Sever's disease is a common cause of heel pain, particularly in the young and physically active.
Read more on Better Health Channel website
Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease - myDr.com.au
Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease is a hereditary disorder marked by slowly progressive muscle weakness in the feet, lower legs, hands and forearms, and a mild loss of sensation in limbs, fingers, and toes.
Read more on myDr website
Leprosy
Leprosy is now considered to be a rare disease in Australia; however, eradication of the disease has not been achieved.
Read more on NSW Health website
Brain Foundation | Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis
Read more on Brain Foundation website
Terry White Chemists Baclofen Tablets - myDr.com.au
Terry White Chemists Baclofen Tablets - Consumer Medicines Information leaflets of prescription and over-the-counter medicines
Read more on myDr – Consumer Medicine Information website
GenRx Baclofen Tablets - myDr.com.au
GenRx Baclofen Tablets - Consumer Medicines Information leaflets of prescription and over-the-counter medicines
Read more on myDr – Consumer Medicine Information website
Alzheimer's Australia | Drug treatments & dementia
Dementia is the term used to describe the symptoms of a large group of illnesses that cause a progressive decline in a persons functioning. It is a broad term to describe a loss of memory, intellect, rationality, social skills and what would be considered normal emotional reactions. Dementia causes significant impairment in a persons day to day functioning.
Read more on Alzheimer's Australia website
Myasthenia gravis - myDr.com.au
Myasthenia gravis is a chronic muscle disease that produces weakness and abnormally rapid fatigue of the voluntary muscles.
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Found 55 results
Interventions for increasing ankle flexibility in people with neuromuscular disease | Cochrane
Loss of ankle flexibility is a common problem for people with neuromuscular disease. It can cause foot deformity, pain and problems walking. The purpose of this review was to assess the evidence regarding the effectiveness of interventions for improving ankle flexibility in people with neuromuscular disease. Four studies were included in the review involving a total of 149 participants. Two studies showed that wearing a night splint was no more effective than not wearing a night splint for increasing ankle flexibility in 26 people who had Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease type 1A. One study showed corticosteroids (prednisone) did not significantly improve ankle flexibility in 103 boys with Duchenne muscular dystrophy and the other study showed that while orthopaedic surgery initially increased ankle flexibility in 20 young boys with Duchenne muscular dystrophy this was not sustained in the long term. This review shows that, currently, there is limited evidence supporting any intervention for improving ankle flexibility in patients with Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease type 1A and Duchenne muscular dystrophy. More research is needed.
Read more on Cochrane (Australasian Centre) website
Mechanical insufflation-exsufflation to improve mucus clearance in people with neuromuscular disorders | Cochrane
Mechanical insufflation-exsufflation to improve mucus clearance in people with neuromuscular disorders
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Interventions to reduce neuromuscular complications acquired during the acute phase of critical illness | Cochrane
Interventions to reduce neuromuscular complications acquired during the acute phase of critical illness
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Therapeutic exercise for people with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis or motor neuron disease | Cochrane
Muscle weakness is very common in people with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), which is also known as motor neuron disease (MND). A weak muscle can be damaged if overworked because it is already functioning close to its maximal limits. Because of this, some experts have discouraged exercise programs for people with ALS. However, if a person with ALS is not active, deconditioning (loss of muscle performance) and weakness from lack of use occurs, on top of the deconditioning and weakness caused by the disease itself. If the reduced level of activity persists, many organ systems can be affected and a person with ALS can develop further deconditioning and muscle weakness, and muscle and joint tightness may occur leading to contractures (abnormal distortion and shortening of muscles) and pain. These all make daily activities harder to do. This review found only two randomised studies of exercise in people with ALS. The trials compared an exercise program with usual care (stretching exercises). Combining the results from the two trials (43 participants), exercise produced a greater average improvement in function (measured using an ALS-specific measurement scale) than usual care. There were no other differences between the two groups. There were no reported adverse events due to exercise. The studies were too small to determine to what extent exercise for people with ALS is beneficial or whether exercise is harmful. We found no new trials when we updated the searches in 2012. More research is needed.
Read more on Cochrane (Australasian Centre) website
Treatment for cramps in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis/motor neuron disease | Cochrane
A cramp is a sudden, involuntary painful contraction of a muscle. Many people with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also known as motor neuron disease (MND), experience cramps during the course of the disease. These range from mild cramps that do not affect daily activities and sleep, through to very severe, painful cramps. Some medications that are used to treat cramps in people with no medical condition or with conditions other than ALS have been tested in ALS clinical trials. These medicines include vitamin E, creatine, quinidine, and gabapentin. Other medications such as quinine sulfate, magnesium, lioresal, dantrolene, clonazepam, diphenylhydantoin, and gabapentin have been used to treat cramps in people with ALS but their effectiveness is unknown. In 2006 and 2010 the US Food and Drugs Administration issued warnings concerning the use of quinine sulfate, which was the previously most widely prescribed medication for cramps in the US. This review sought to find out how effective medications and physical treatments for cramps are for people with ALS. The reviewers identified 20 randomised controlled trials in people with ALS comprising a total of 4789 participants. Only one trial, of the drug tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), directly investigated the effectiveness of an intervention for cramps. Thirteen randomised controlled ALS trials investigated cramps secondarily among other variables. The medications comprised vitamin E, baclofen, riluzole, L-threonine, xaliproden, indinavir, and memantine. Six randomised controlled ALS trials investigated cramps as adverse events. The medications comprised creatine, gabapentin, dextromethorphan, quinidine and lithium. None of the 20 studies could demonstrate any benefit, but the studies were small. Current evidence on the treatment of cramps in ALS is lacking and more research is needed.
Read more on Cochrane (Australasian Centre) website
Drug treatment for spinal muscular atrophy type I | Cochrane
Spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) is a severe neuromuscular disease with onset in childhood and adolescence that results in progressive muscle weakness. There are three main types of SMA. Drug treatment for SMA types II and III is discussed in a separate Cochrane review. The age of onset of SMA type I, also known as Werdnig-Hoffmann disease, is before six months. Children with SMA type I will never be able to sit without support and usually die by the age of two years. It is one of the most important causes of death due to a genetic disease in childhood. There was only one small randomised trial in the original review, which assessed the efficacy of riluzole for 10 children with SMA type I. In this trial all three children in the placebo group died, but three of the seven children treated with riluzole were still alive at the ages of 30, 48 and 64 months. However, none of the children in the riluzole or placebo group developed the ability to roll, sit or stand. For several reasons the overall quality of the study was low, mainly because the study was too small to detect an effect and there were baseline differences that resulted in risk of bias. Evidence is insufficient to recommend riluzole for SMA type I. No further trials were identified for this 2011 update. No drug treatment has been shown to have significant efficacy for SMA type I.
Read more on Cochrane (Australasian Centre) website
Enteral feeding (tube feeding) in people with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also known as motor neuron disease | Cochrane
Enteral feeding (tube feeding) in people with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also known as motor neuron disease
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Ciliary neurotrophic factor (CNTF) for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also known as motor neuron disease | Cochrane
Ciliary neurotrophic factor (CNTF) for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also known as motor neuron disease
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Metrifonate for Alzheimer's disease | Cochrane
Metrifonate is a long-acting irreversible cholinesterase inhibitor. We reviewed the evidence for its efficacy in Alzheimer's disease and assessed adverse events and tolerability. At various doses it was associated with significant cognitive improvement compared to placebo, improvement in clinical global impression, and activities of daily living.
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In the later stages of Parkinson's disease, side effects occur because of the use of levodopa in its treatment. These consist of involuntary writhing movements (dyskinesia), painful cramps in the legs and a shortened response to each dose referred to as ' | Cochrane
Read more on Cochrane (Australasian Centre) website
