| Feb. 17, 2004
MGHS physical medicine and rehabilitation specialist
to be keynote speaker at New Jersey polio conference
Dr. Frederick
Maynard
Dr.
Frederick Maynard, a board-certified physical medicine and rehabilitation
specialist on staff at Marquette General
Health System, has been selected to be the keynote speaker at the
annual New Jersey
Polio Network conference scheduled for Sunday,
April 25. He was the keynote speaker at a previous annual polio
conference.
Following his speech, Dr. Maynard will join other speakers for a question-and-answer
session on the late effects of polio and related research.
Dr. Maynard, a renowned authority on post-polio syndrome (PPS), is a partner
at U.P. Rehabilitation Medicine Associates, PC, at Marquette General. He has
devoted a large part of his professional life to evaluating and managing post-polio
syndrome.
Dr. Maynard founded the post-polio clinic at the University of Michigan Medical
Center in Ann Arbor in 1983 and co-edited “The Handbook on the Late Effects
of Poliomyelitis.” He is the president of the Board of Directors for
Post-polio Health International, the largest advocacy organization of polio
survivors in the world.
The main symptoms of PPS are progressive muscle weakness that gradually worsens,
along with severe fatigue and pain in muscles and joints. PPS is caused by
the death of individual nerves in the motor units that remain after the initial
attack of polio. Some patients experience only minor symptoms, while others
are forced to use wheelchairs or ventilators.
More than half a million polio survivors in the United States may be at risk
for PPS, Dr. Maynard said. It strikes polio survivors anywhere from 10 to 40
years after recovery from an initial paralytic attack of the polio virus.
According to Dr. Maynard, asmany as 1,000 people in the Upper Peninsula suffer
from PPS.
Those who may have PPS are encouraged to contact their family physician for
a referral to Dr. Maynard. To reach U.P. Rehabilitation Medicine Associates,
PC, call 225-3914 or 1-888-886-4644.
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