About this Research Topic

Background

This Research Topic is part of the Strategies to Fight Exercise Intolerance in Neuromuscular Disorders series:
Strategies to Fight Exercise Intolerance in Neuromuscular Disorders

Neuromuscular diseases (genetic or acquired) comprise a heterogeneous group of disorders characterized by impaired oxidative metabolism and/or reduced muscle strength. Acute and transient or chronic degenerative or non-degenerative neuromuscular diseases have a complex multifactorial pathogenesis and represent an extraordinary challenge for human physiology research in order to improve the resiliency of these patients, in childhood and adult life, or to accompany them until the end of their lives.

Finding a cure or taking care of patients affected by the wide clinical spectrum of neuromuscular diseases, requires the recognition of mechanisms that jeopardize both oxidative metabolism as well as skeletal muscle strength during exercise, from cellular to systems derangement perspective. Indeed, the full expression of integration and efficiency of our body systems is critically exposed during exercise. In these diseases, exercise triggers the inherent flaws in cellular energy metabolism and motor units’ recruitment due to the disease and finally reveals a severely impaired physical function. Evaluating the responses to exercise in patients affected by acute or chronic neuromuscular diseases is a powerful diagnostic tool that can extend the borders of human physiology into clinical setup and expand the knowledge of clinical evaluation beyond the resting conditions. Accordingly, precision training can be a powerful therapy aimed at counteracting the conditions threatening oxidative metabolism and the determinants of force in skeletal muscle during exercise.

The aim of this Research Topic is to encourage further research in the area and foster a prolific discussion from different perspectives. In particular, the Research Topic “Strategies to fight exercise intolerance in neuromuscular disorders” will address relevant issues from different perspectives including the investigation of oxidative metabolism and muscle strength during exercise, as well as precision exercise plus diet used as therapy in patients. We encourage the submission of all manuscripts ranging from cell metabolism to integrative physiology during exercise in patients with neuromuscular diseases including, but not limited, to: cardiopulmonary O2 delivery to tissues; skeletal muscles O2 extraction (counting mitochondrial function); exercise tolerance and muscle strength after personalized exercise plus dietary regimen; strategies to introduce precision exercise in clinical settings.

We welcome original research papers, and narrative or systematic review contributions. Submissions from clinicians, exercise physiologists, sports scientists, molecular biologists, geneticists, nutritionists and dietitians are encouraged.

Some potential themes of interest for this Research Topic will be:

Functional evaluation of skeletal muscle oxidative metabolism in patients with neuromuscular diseases;

Effects of precision exercise training in patients affected by neuromuscular diseases, including the evaluation of the impact of different exercise regimens as well as the adaptation to exercise training programs from the molecular and cellular level to the integrated response of systems. Hopefully, this will help to draw up guidelines for different diseases and phenotypes that clinicians and patients can use;

Effect of training plus diet in animal models of neuromuscular diseases, including new biomarkers that enlighten early parameters of muscle adaptations/remodeling induced by various exercise regimens or acute response to exercise;

Correlation between clinical predictors of neuromuscular disease progression and exercise physiology outcomes of reduced exercise tolerance;

Strategies aimed at empowering these patients and at introducing exercise plus diet into practical clinical applications or in existing systems already supporting care of patients with neuromuscular diseases; and

Impact of precision exercise plus diet on the quality of life of patients affected by neuromuscular diseases.

Keywords: Oxidative metabolism, neuromuscular diseases, metabolic myopathies, exercise, diet

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