People with multiple sclerosis (MS) tend to neglect sport. Yet practice is a good reflex that can improve patients’ daily lives by reducing fatigue, balance disorders, and improving walking and cardiovascular health. Researchers from the University of Aarhus in Denmark confirm the benefits of physical activityfor MS patients on another level. The new study underlines the protective effects of a type of exercises, those carried out in resistance (for example core exercises), on the brain. MS is an inflammatory disease that attacks the central nervous system and in particular myelin, the protective membrane of the axon, the extension of the neuron. This process of “demyelination” disrupts the proper transmission of information produced by the brain. The relay of cerebral messages to the different parts of the body is then hampered, giving rise to the symptoms of the disease: balance disorders, paralysis or muscle weakness, facial paralysis, language disorders, etc.
A supposed neuroprotective effect
The new Danish work shows that sports training would slow the progression of the disease by preventing brain shrinkage, a phenomenon observed in MS patients. This positive effect was observed following a 6-month follow-up of a panel of 35 patients. Half of the group was subjected to a sports program consisting of muscular resistance exercises. Patients who performed this type of physical exercise showed on brain imaging examinations an increase in their cortical thickness (of the cortex). This indicates to the researchers a potentially neuroprotective or even regenerative effect for the brain of physical activity. The work appeared in the journal Multiple sclerosis Journal.
In France more than 100,000 individuals are affected by MS.
Read also:
A sports program to live better with MS
An acne drug, useful for multiple sclerosis?
MS: immunosuppressive therapy would be beneficial
