Intermittent Exercise Helps Multiple Sclerosis Patients
- From: Tick <oltick@xxxxxxx>
- Date: Tue, 22 Jun 2010 16:49:04 -0700 (PDT)
From Medscape Medical News
Intermittent Exercise Helps Multiple Sclerosis Patients
Jim Kling
June 7, 2010 (San Antonio, Texas) — Patients with multiple sclerosis
(MS) are able to exercise longer when they take intermittent rest
breaks, according to a new study presented here at the Consortium of
Multiple Sclerosis Centers 24th Annual Conference and the Third Joint
Meeting of Americas Committee for Treatment and Research in Multiple
Sclerosis.
The approach could allow patients to get more benefit from exercise
and physical therapy, researchers say.
Fatigue is a common symptom of MS and frequently limits a patient's
ability to exercise. Herb Karpatkin, DSc, MPT, a physical therapist,
MS specialist, and professor at the Hunter College Program in Physical
Therapy in Brooklyn, New York, and colleagues set out to determine if
patients reported different levels of fatigue when they engaged in
intermittent instead of continuous exercise. They enrolled 30
ambulatory patients in a study with a repeated-measures, crossover,
within-subject design. Participants had Expanded Disability Status
Scale scores between 2.0 and 6.5. They were asked to perform 6 minutes
of continuous or intermittent walking.
A visual analog scale of fatigue was used to measure fatigue. When
patients walked for 6 minutes continuously, self-rating of fatigue
went from a mean of 43.53 points to 68.73 points — an increase of
25.20 points. During intermittent walking, the mean fatigue score went
from 48.03 to 57.20 — an increase of 9.17 points. Disease severity,
duration, and the mood of the participant had no effect on the change
in score.
The intermittent approach was suggested by his patients, Dr. Karpatkin
told Medscape Neurology & Neurosurgery.
Intermittent exercise seems to have the same physical benefit as
continuous exercise. A comparison hasn't been done in MS patients, but
comparison studies of intermittent and continuous exercise have shown
the 2 forms of exercise to be equivalent in chronic fatigue syndrome,
diabetes, obesity, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and
fibromyalgia, Dr. Karpatkin said.
Exercise does take longer, but success is generally its own reward, he
noted. "There was 1 patient who couldn't walk more than 3 or 4 minutes
on a treadmill; after a few sessions, she could do 20 or 25 minutes.
That's a very powerful thing for her," Dr. Karpatkin said.
"It bodes well for us in how we prescribe exercise programs," Susan
Bennett, PT, EdD, NCS, physical therapist and clinical associate
professor at the University of Buffalo, New York, who attended the
session, told Medscape Neurology & Neurosurgery. Still, the results
are preliminary. "More research is needed," Dr. Bennett added.
The study did not receive commercial support. Dr. Karpatkin and Dr.
Bennett have disclosed no relevant financial relationships.
Consortium of Multiple Sclerosis Centers (CMSC) 24th Annual Conference
and the Third Joint Meeting of Americas Committee for Treatment and
Research in Multiple Sclerosis (ACTRIMS): Abstract P19. Presented June
4, 2010.
Medscape Medical News © 2010 Medscape, LLC
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