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 Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a rare, disabling autoimmune disease that
damages the central nervous system. It can lead to fatigue, pain,
vision loss and impaired coordination and motor skills.
For the current study, researchers focused on 88 adults with MS who
were able to walk 100 meters assisted with a cane if necessary. Half
of them were randomly selected to participate in a supervised
exercise program, while the rest were put on a waiting list.
At the start of the study, researchers gave all of the participants
computer-based balance tests. None of the participants approached
scores of 90 out of 100 that are typical for healthy adults without
balance issues.
After six weeks, however, average scores rose more for the exercise
group. While both groups started with scores around 62-63, those in
the exercise group rose to an average of 73, compared with an
increase to 66 in the other group.
“It is possible that disability due to MS can be improved or the
accumulation of disability lessened by participation in exercise
such as (this) program; however, additional research in this area is
needed,” said lead study author Jeffrey Hebert of the University of
Colorado School of Medicine in Denver.
“The . . . program is most generalizable to ambulatory patients with
MS who have some limitations related to balance and fatigue,” Hebert
said by email.
In the exercise group, people completed supervised exercises twice a
week and received instructions to exercise daily at home for the
first six weeks. Then, for the next eight weeks, they got one
supervised workout a week plus daily exercises to do at home.
Exercises included balancing on different surfaces and while
walking, both with and without head movements and eyes open and
closed, as well as eye movement exercises to help improve visual
stability.
For the exercise group, the benefits persisted even when they cut
back to supervised workouts just once a week. By the end of the
study, they had average balance test scores of 75, compared with 65
in the control group.
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The people who did the exercises also saw greater improvements in
their fatigue and dizziness test scores than the other group.
In addition, researchers found that patients in the exercise group
who had lesions in brain regions that are important to balance and
eye movement control had greater improvements in balance than people
without these lesions.
It’s possible that this finding was due to chance, however, because
the study was too small to detect statistically meaningful
differences among people within the exercise group, researchers note
in Neurology.
Even so, the results suggest that all patients with MS who are able
to complete these exercises might benefit, said Susan Bennett,
co-author of an accompanying editorial and a researcher at the
University at Buffalo in New York.
“Any person experiencing imbalance whether related to MS, inner ear
disorder, brainstem injury, weakness or sensory loss in the legs
will experience fatigue as the brain has to work harder to process
limited information or inaccurate information to maintain an upright
posture in standing and during walking,” Bennett said by email.
The study results suggest that with a supervised exercise program,
“the majority of people with MS could have an improvement in their
balance, which would then reduce fall risk in this population,”
Bennett added.
SOURCES: http://bit.ly/2nDQggF and http://bit.ly/2GfUSS5 Neurology,
online January 31, 2018.
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