Effects of exercise on life quality in a rheumatoid arthritis patient

• Main Authors: Diego Alexandre Alonso-Aubin, Iván Chulvi-Medrano, Moisés Picón-Martinez, George S Metsios
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Turkish Sports Medicine Association 2020-11-01
• Series: Spor Hekimligi Dergisi
• Subjects: exercise; cardiovascular risk factors; osteoarthritis; resistance training
• Online Access: https://journalofsportsmedicine.org/eng/full-text-pdf/556/eng

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a chronic-degenerative disease characterized by symptoms that significantly impact on the functional capacity and thus, the ability to carry out daily functional activities reducing the quality of life (QoL). The aim was to evaluate the effects of a strength and conditioning (S&C) program on the quality of life (QoL), the self-perception disease impact, the self-fatigue perception and cardiovascular risk factors in a patient with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and cardiovascular disease (CVD). 34-year-old woman (height: 1.40m; weight: 36.1kg) diagnosed with RA and CVD underwent a six-month S&C program with aerobic training 2-3 times a week in 1-3 sets of 5-15 minutes at a moderate to vigorous intensity on a treadmill and/or outdoors and resistance training performed 2-3 times a week in different days from aerobic training, in 1-3 sets of 10-15 repetitions at 5-8 RPE intensity following Borg Scale. Positive improvement in the total QoL score (52,71 points vs 62,50 points), self-perception disease impact (1,73 points vs 3,72 points), self-fatigue perception with 24,4% for waking up (45 to 56 points) and 51,8% after training session (28 to 54 points) and CVD risk factors; cholesterol (pre:324; inter:215; post:228mg/dl), triglycerides (pre:98; inter:77; post:70 mg/dl), LDL (pre:239; inter:132; post:141 mg/dl), HDL (pre:64.7; inter:67.9; post:72.2 mg/dl) and glucose (pre:99; inter:72; post:72 mg/dl). A S&C program could be a useful tool for the QoL improvement in RA patients.