Dr. Sean Smith on Improving and Maintaining Mobility with Chronic Graft Versus Host Disease

Dr. Sean Smith is the director of the cancer rehabilitation program at Michigan Medicine, in Ann Arbor, as well as an associate professor at the University of Michigan. He's dedicated to helping patients improve function as it relates to a variety of musculoskeletal, neurological and cognitive deficits related to cancer and its treatment.

Dr. Smith says every patient is different, and they may try many treatments at once to find the best fit for each individual situation.  The sooner he and his team can intervene, often the better the results.

Skin and muscle tightening can sometimes occur with chronic GVHD.  One of the first treatment methods is stretching - whether that's giving a patient stretching exercises to do or employing the help of a physical or occupational therapist.   There are also other methods to break up scar tissue.  Other tactics may include cortisone injections, paraffin baths, and oral or topical steroids.  Dr. Smith explains how these tools are used.

 Fatigue is a very common issue relating to chronic Graft vs. Host Disease.  This can be due to anemia, drug side effects, poor sleep, and other factors. Our guest walks through treatment of each of these individual symptoms.

Exercise, mindfulness, and even meditation are key tools in Dr. Smith's toolbox.  Your definition of exercise may be different than before transplant, but spending the time doing what you can is so important.  He shares some sobering numbers about how quickly muscles can deteriorate after transplant if not used.   Dr. Smith also talks about "pre-habilitation" - the exercise you can do before transplant.

Resources:

Dr. Sean Smith Bio: https://medicine.umich.edu/dept/pmr/sean-r-smith-md

National Bone Marrow Transplant Link - (800) LINK-BMT, or (800) 546-5268.

nbmtLINK Website: https://www.nbmtlink.org/

nbmtLINK Facebook Page:  https://www.facebook.com/nbmtLINK

nbmtLINK YouTube Page can be found by clicking here.

Thank you to this season's sponsors:

Pharmacyclics: https://www.pharmacyclics.com/

Janssen: https://www.janssen.com/

Kadmon: https://kadmon.com/

Sanofi: https://www.sanofi.com/

National Bone Marrow Transplant Link - (800) LINK-BMT, or (800) 546-5268.

nbmtLINK Website: https://www.nbmtlink.org/

nbmtLINK Facebook Page:  https://www.facebook.com/nbmtLINK

Follow the nbmtLINK on Instagram! https://www.instagram.com/nbmtlink/

The nbmtLINK YouTube Page can be found by clicking here.

To participate in the GVHD Mosaic, click here: https://amp.livemosaics.com/gvhd