Physical therapy for multiple myeloma patients with severely hindered daily living activities due to bone lesions: a report of two cases.
Ryohei Jinbo, Takaaki Fujita, Ryuichi Kasahara and 10 others
PMID 34658526WHAT IT FOUND
Two patients with multiple myeloma and severe bone lesions moved from bedridden to independent walking without adverse events.
Therapists used Borg scale 13 and mild pain limits to guide safe, long-term physical therapy that helped them qualify for stem cell transplants.
Key findings
01Physical therapy guided by a Borg scale of 13 and mild pain limits resulted in no adverse events and high implementation rates for two patients with severe bone lesions.
02Both patients improved their Barthel Index scores and performance status, moving from complete dependence to independence in activities of daily living.
03The functional improvements allowed both patients to proceed to autologous peripheral hematopoietic stem cell transplantation, which typically requires better performance status.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTsWhat it means for OTs
Read the rest of this summary
You get three full summaries a month, free, and we do not ask for a card. Search, the TL;DRs and your library stay unlimited either way.
What it does not show
The study includes only two patients, so it cannot prove that these interventions work for the general multiple myeloma population. The patients received chemotherapy and other medical treatments concurrently, so it is impossible to separate the effect of physical therapy from the effect of the drugs on their functional improvement. The study did not measure health-related quality of life, only physical function and pain. The decision to proceed to stem cell transplantation was made by physicians based on overall condition, so the direct causal link between PT and transplant eligibility is inferred rather than proven.
Declared interests
The authors declare no conflicts of interest with any individuals or companies.
The easy way to misread this
Do not assume physical therapy alone caused the functional improvements or the ability to undergo stem cell transplantation. The patients were also receiving multiple chemotherapy regimens during this period, and the study cannot separate the effects of the drugs from the effects of the exercise.