Resistance Training May Benefit Multiple Sclerosis, Study Finds

The researchers designed a trial to look at how the addition of exercise to multiple sclerosis treatments might improve patient outcomes.

In this randomized controlled trial, the researchers enrolled 35 patients who had the most common type of multiple sclerosis, relapsing and remitting type. These patients were all being treated with the standard medications that are used for multiple sclerosis. To investigate whether exercise may have benefited as a supplemental therapy, they randomly allocated 18 patients to receive supervised, progressive resistance training. As a control group, they instructed the remaining 17 patients to simply go about their daily activities.  

The progressive resistance training program was specially designed for multiple sclerosis patients under the guidance of the American College of Sports Medicine.

Carefully designed by the study team, the exercise program for progressive resistance training encompassed 6 months of twice weekly exercise. Each session consisted of four lower body exercises and two upper body exercises. The lower body workouts included horizontal leg press, hip flexion, leg extension, and hamstring curl; while the upper body training involved a cable pull-down and triceps extension. Patients were carefully monitored and professionally guided using this treatment regimen.