A nonischemic forearm exercise test for McArdle disease.

Ischemic forearm exercise invariably causes muscle cramps and pain in patients with glycolytic defects. We investigated an alternative diagnostic exercise test that may be better tolerated. Nine patients with McArdle disease, one with the partial glycolytic defect phosphoglycerate mutase deficiency, and nine matched, healthy subjects performed the classic ischemic forearm protocol and an identical protocol without ischemia.

A forearm exercise screening test for mitochondrial myopathy.

Background: The authors hypothesized that impaired oxygen extraction in mitochondrial myopathy (MM) results in a high oxygen saturation in venous effluent blood from working muscle and that this phenomenon can be used as a diagnostic tool for MM.

Methods: Twelve patients with MM, 10 patients with muscular dystrophy, and 12 healthy subjects were studied. All subjects performed intermittent static handgrip exercise (1/2 Hz) at 40% of maximal voluntary contraction (MVC) for 3 minutes.