Post-Polio Clinic

St. John Physical Rehabilitation Services

Center for Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation, P.C.
13850 Twelve Mile Road
Warren, MI 48088
(586) 552-4499

Due to the belief that polio was eliminated with the development of the Polio vaccine in 1955, familiarity with this disease in the health care community today is limited. Polio survivors and physicians alike often do not relate current symptoms with the disease of their childhood. Though recent statistics indicate there are nearly 1,000,000 polio survivors living in the US today, finding appropriate treatment has been a challenge… until now.

The St. John Providence Health System Post-Polio Clinic was developed to help properly diagnose and effectively treat past polio patients who are experiencing a recurrence of new problems directly associated with poliomyelitis, or polio.

Typical symptoms of post-polio syndrome, also referred to as the late effects of polio, can include any one or several of the following in varying degrees:

• Unusual fatigue
• New weakness in muscles, both those originally affected by polio and those seemingly unaffected
• Pain in muscles or joints
• Sleeping difficulty
• Breathing problems
• Swallowing difficulty
• Decreased ability to tolerate cold temperatures
• Decline in ability to conduct usual daily activities

Develop a Plan

Management of individual symptoms is the current treatment of post-polio syndrome. Since symptoms are unique to each person, the treatment plan must also be unique. Under the direction of the medical director,  Daniel M. Ryan, MD, a physiatrist with special expertise in polio, the Post-Polio Clinic offers patients access to a team of polio specialists. The initital consultative visit to the Clinic includes complete medical evaluation by an internal medicine physician and specialized neuromuscular evaluation provided by Dr. Ryan. These comprehensive evaluations are performed to determine an individual baseline from which to judge future changes and from which the clinical experts will develop customized treatment plans.

Contact Us

Patients may be referred by their physician or may self-refer. Most insurances are accepted. For an appointment or for more information, please call the St. John Providence Health System Post-Polio Clinic at 586-566-3036, Monday - Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.