Falls And The Late Effects of Polio (LEoP)

Many people who acquired polio in their childhood experience new or increased impairments decades after their initial infection, so-called post-polio syndrome or late effects of polio (LEoP) [1]. Common impairments in persons with LEoP are muscle weakness, muscle fatigue, general fatigue and musculoskeletal pain during everyday activities and physical activities. The causes of LEoP are not clear, but it seems that the new impairments occur due to a distal degeneration of axons in the enlarged motor units that developed during the recovery of the acute paralytic polio.

It is my experience as a nurse, that the LEoP are not mentioned in any falls risk screening tools in hospitals or residential aged care facilities and if staff don’t know about it they won’t know that a patient who may be able to walk around unaided may be at risk of falling because of the LEoP.

Now my story……

My preference is for one-on-one supervision 24/7. That means three nurses/carers every day – one on each shift.

References

Brogårdh C, Lexell J, Hammarlund CS. Fall-Related Activity Avoidance among Persons with Late Effects of Polio and Its Influence on Daily Life: A Mixed-Methods Study. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2021 Jul 5;18(13):7202. doi: 10.3390/ijerph18137202. PMID: 34281139; PMCID: PMC8295840.

Lexell J. Postpoliomyelitis Syndrome. In: Frontera W., Silver J., Rizzo J., editors. Essentials of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Musculoskeletal Disorders, Pain, and Rehabilitation. 3rd ed. Elsevier Saunders; Philadelphia, PA, USA: 2019. pp. 834–840.

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