Muscle strengthening in a post-polio subject through a high-resistance weight-training program

A 48-year-old woman started experiencing increased muscle weakness and fatigue at age 44, 40 years after the onset of acute poliomyelitis. The acute poliomyelitis resulted in severely weak lower limb muscles and as a result, she had used crutches for more than 40 years. Computer-aided force transducer systems were used to determine isometric muscle strength. Both quadriceps and left ankle dorsiflexors were severely weak and could not generate any measurable force. Isometric muscle strength of her right ankle dorsiflexors was 77 Newtons (N) (approximately 1/3 normal); isometric muscle strength of right elbow flexors (171N) and left elbow flexors (160N) were within normal range, although she complained of weakening based on her inability to climb two stairs at a time with crutches as she was used to. She underwent high-resistance weight training of her right ankle dorsiflexors and left elbow flexors for one year. Weight training was three times per week, five sets of ten repetitions per session; total duration of muscle contraction (excluding rest periods) was two and one half minutes per session, 30 minutes per month. Muscle strength (N) was remeasured after four, eight, and 12 months. Muscle strength of right ankle dorsiflexors increased by 61%, whereas that of the left elbow flexors increased by 32% after one year of weight training. She also expressed a subjective feeling of increased muscle strength. High-resistance, short duration muscle strengthening exercise programs should therefore be given a serious consideration in the rehabilitation management of moderately weak muscles of post-polio subjects.