Exercise studies in CMT

Aerobic training in Charcot-Marie-Tooth (CMT) disease and Inclusion Body Myositis (IBM).

Primary objective

To investigate the effect of aerobic training in two common neuromuscular diseases: CMT and IBM.

These diseases result in progressive muscle wasting and substantial morbidity and disability.

The effect of aerobic training on fitness levels, muscle strength and function will be systematically examined.

This study will also track the safety, feasibility and impact on quality of life of this type of exercise training in these patient groups.

Both disease groups will be investigated at the same time with the same methods. But each disease group will be viewed and analysed separately.

The study has a crossover design with training and control periods. For the training period, patients will train in selected local gyms on a bicycle ergometer.

It will last three years with each subject participating for a 34 week period.

The primary outcome measure is maximum aerobic capacity during exercise testing. There will also be measures of:

• muscle strength
• body composition
• activity levels
• and other effects of exercise (as mood, motivation, sleep and fatigue)

Recruitment

60 subjects: 30 from each disease group

Patients aged 18-75 years recruited from the neuromuscular clinics at Queen Square.