Exercise capacity in a 78 year old patient with McArdle’s disease: it is never too late to start exercising

Abstract

The case is reported of a 78 year old man with McArdle's disease and a history of treated coronary heart disease. Despite the pre-exercise administration of sucrose allowing the patient to exercise with normal physiological responses, and without typical McArdle's symptoms or biochemical evidence of muscle damage, his exercise capacity was very low (VO↓2peak = 10.7 ml/min/kg), probably attributable to his lifetime of sedentary living.