Neuromuscular diseases: revisiting the "overtraining"

Abstract

Correspondence to: Marco Orsini – Programa de Pos-Graduacao em Ciencias da Reabilitacao – Praca das Nacoes, 34 – CEP: 21041-021 – Bonsucesso (RJ), Brazil – E-mail: orsinimarco@hotmail.com Neuromuscular diseases (NMD) are a heterogeneous group of disorders of the anterior spinal cord, peripheral nerves, neuromuscular junction and skeletal striated muscles. It is a consensus that exercise programs may optimize the motor and cardiovascular functions, in addition to preventing atrophy by disuse and deconditioning in people with NMD. The literature suggests an individualized, submaximal approach, adapted to the peculiarities of each disorder, with solid and often reanalyzed treatment goals, in order to avoid overtraining. There is the belief that the motor training in patients with NMD may be deleterious and cause the overtraining syndrome, characterized by the installation of symptoms which reflect a non-ideal relationship between effort stress and the tolerance to it, being externalized with the decreased of physical performance, increased muscle injuries and even immunosuppression, increasing the susceptibility to infections. Many NMD of chronic and progressive nature, and often relentless, need to be addressed with a focus on the management of muscle weakness, and not the increase in strength, rule which also applies to the muscles of swallowing and breathing. The grueling training with intense cardio accelerates the degradation of motor performance and death in animal models of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis; on the other hand, low-intenNeuromuscular diseases: revisiting the “overtraining”