Friday, March 29, 2024
HomeNewsHealthRegular skipping can ease Crohn's symptoms

Regular skipping can ease Crohn’s symptoms

SPECIFIC types of exercise – like skipping – can be of great benefit to people with Crohn’s disease, according to new research.

Until now, scientific evidence of the effects of exercise for people with Crohn’s – an inflammatory bowel disease – has been sparse: studies have focused on modes of exercise which have proven to be less effective in improving bone health, such as walking, cycling or yoga.

In this latest research, scientists at Northumbria University investigated the effects of an impact and resistance training programme on people with Crohn’s.

They found that these types of exercise led to meaningful improvements in bone and muscle health, therefore decreasing people’s risk of sustaining a fracture.

In this novel study, 47 people with an average age of 49 took part in a six-month impact and resistance training programme. Participants were encouraged to complete three, 60-minute exercise sessions on non-consecutive days each week for 26 consecutive weeks.

Each session involved a combination of impact exercises, such as rope skipping, broad jumps and squat jumps, and high-effort resistance exercises including lunges, press-ups and bicep curls using TheraBand® elastic bands.

After six months, results demonstrated that the exercise programme had produced meaningful improvements in a range of bone and muscle health outcomes. On average, patients bone mineral density improved by 3.8% and 2.3% at the lumbar spine and femoral neck, respectively.

Such improvements are significant: recent research efforts indicated that a 2% improvement in lumbar spine or femoral neck bone mineral density was associated with a 28% reduction in vertebral fracture risk, and a 15-22% reduction in hip fracture risk.

Dr Garry Tew says: “Clinical guidelines on the management of inflammatory bowel disease state that weight-bearing and resistive exercises should be promoted to help prevent bone loss. However, specific exercise prescriptions are currently not provided and the recommendation is based largely on research in the general population.

“This study provides novel and important data on the feasibility and efficacy of a specific bone-loading and muscle-strengthening exercise programme in adults with Crohn’s disease. This may help guide clinical practice so that patients can be provided with a specific exercise prescription that is supported by research evidence” he added.

Dr Nick Thompson said: “Muscle weakness and bone thinning are important consequences of Crohn’s disease and can seriously impact on a patient’s quality of life through fatigue and increased risk of a fracture. These exercise programmes look to empower patients to help improve muscle and bone strength.”

  • Crohn’s disease is estimated to affect about one in every 650 people in the UK. It causes inflammation of parts of the digestive system, which can lead to abdominal pain, severe diarrhoea, fatigue, weight loss and malnutrition.
  • People with Crohn’s are also more at risk of developing thinner and weaker bones – osteoporosis – due to factors such as inflammation of the gut, low levels of calcium and vitamin D, taking steroids or removal of parts of the small bowel. Reduced muscle strength in comparison to the general population is also common.
  • Having thinner or weaker bones can lead to them fracturing more easily. Likewise, muscle dysfunction can cause physical disability and contributes to fatigue which is a common symptom.

The research is published in the medical journal Alimentary Pharmacology & Therapeutics

 

 

RELATED ARTICLES
spot_img
- Advertisment -

Most Popular