Nocturnal rocking bed therapy: improvement in sleep fragmentation in patients with respiratory muscle weakness

Three patients with respiratory muscle weakness developed sleep fragmentation due to nonobstructive apnea and hypopnea. In two patients in whom inspiratory muscle electromyogram was recorded, the apneas and hypopneas were terminated only by arousal and excessive recruitment of accessory muscles. Nocturnal rocking bed ventilatory support resulted in immediate improvement in sleep fragmentation and inhibited arousal-associated phasic accessory muscle activation, resulting in improvement in daytime hypercapnia and subjective sleepiness. Sleep fragmentation may occur more commonly than generally appreciated in neuromuscular disease patients who are independent of daytime ventilatory support. The use of nocturnal rocking bed is an effective noninvasive method of reversing sleep fragmentation and daytime sequelae when obstructive apnea is absent.