TITLE:
Myasthenia gravis in a professional cyclist—A case report
AUTHORS:
Hiroteru Hayashi, Hiroki Funasaki, Kentaro Kawai, Sakiko Ito, Keishi Marumo
KEYWORDS:
Myasthenia Gravis; Aggressive Rehabilitation; Return to Sports
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Therapy and Rehabilitation,
Vol.1 No.2,
November
25,
2013
ABSTRACT: Since myasthenia gravis affects the muscular system, athletes suffering from the disease often have difficulty in performing or returning to their sports activity, in which exertion of continuous muscular power is required. In this paper, we present a case of a professional bicycle rider with symptomatic MG who successfully return to his sport activity after thymectomy, steroid pulse therapy and aggressive rehabilitation. He resumed load training, returned to competitive cycling 8 months after leaving hospital while being on 20 mg PSL/day, and won seven victories in the top class cycling competitions. This is the first report on a professional athlete suffering from MG who successfully returned to competitive sports after aggressive steroid treatment.