Quadriplegia from spinal cord injury in muscular dystrophy

Recommendations for exercise programs in patients with muscular dystrophy are controversial. These programs are designed to keep a patient ambulatory or functional for as long as possible. There have been no reports of a patient with muscular dystrophy who incurred a spinal cord injury. This report details the course of recovery and rehabilitation of a man with facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy with quadriplegia from a traumatic spinal cord injury. The patient was admitted to a spinal cord injury unit. After prolonged bedrest, he participated in physical and occupational therapy that was designed to exercise him just short of fatigue. Except for one incident, when the patient reinjured his spinal cord, he did not lose function that he had already attained. The rehabilitation of this patient demonstrates that it is possible for a patient with facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy who sustains a traumatic quadriplegia to enter a rehabilitation program with expectations for a good outcome despite a double disability.