North Wales rheumatoid arthritis patients turn to weight training to restore their muscles
People with rheumatoid arthritis in North Wales are to be put through their paces in the gym - to find out if weight lifting makes them feel better.
Around 40 RA patients are being recruited to take part in a clinical trial being run by sports scientists at the School of Sport, Health and Exercise at the University of Wales in Bangor and rheumatologists at Gwynedd Hospital, and funded by a £56,000 grant from the Arthritis Research Campaign (arc).
Doctors are hoping to prove that resistance training such as weight lifting increases the muscle strength in patients with the debilitating joint condition - which severely reduces muscle mass and strength and worsens their disability.
Half of those taking part will use weights in the university gym twice a week for 24 weeks, while the other half, known as the control group, will be given flexibility exercises to be done at home.
"Although RA is well recognised as a joint disease, it also causes severe reduction of muscle mass and strength in the majority of patients," explained research team leader, lecturer Dr Andrew Lemmey. "An earlier pilot study we ran a couple of years ago makes us very confident that those people who do the resistance training will regain lost muscle, and improve strength and functional capability." "
Contrary to popular belief, exercising the joints is good for people with all kinds of arthritis, and does not exacerbate the disease or put undue pressure on the joints. And Dr Lemmey believes that the resistance training will also give people a big psychological boost.
"We hope patients will feel more positive and confident in that they are exercising some power of their bodies for the first time, as opposed to the disease controlling them, so we will be assessing their depression, mood and quality of life too," he added.
At the same time, the research team want to find out more about the hormonal mechanisms within the body that cause muscle wasting in RA. They expect to find that resistance training redresses the imbalance of hormonal factors in the body, in particular the levels of anabolic hormones, which are lowered in people with RA.
If weight training is found to help people with RA, it could have major implications in the way the disease, which affects around 380,000 people in the UK, is treated. The trial is expected to start in the New Year.
