It's
no secret that exercise has myriad health benefits, including
improving heart function, reducing the risk for stroke, lowering
blood pressure, increasing HDL (good) cholesterol and facilitating
weight loss. But did you know that exercise helps ease the
suffering of people in the early stages of rheumatoid arthritis?
In a recent study, 300 rheumatoid arthritis patients were
assigned to either an exercise or physical therapy program
over a two-year period. The exercise training program included
20 minutes of weight training, 20 minutes of bike riding and
20 minutes engaged in a sport, such as badminton, volleyball,
soccer or basketball.
The exercise group showed significant improvements in levels
of aerobic fitness over the physical therapy group; in fact,
the fitness level of the physical therapy group actually decreased.
Additionally, the exercise group showed emotional improvement
over their physical therapy counterparts, and demonstrated
more optimism.
If you suffer from rheumatoid arthritis or any other debilitating
musculoskeletal or immune-related condition, talk to your
chiropractor about designing an exercise plan suitable to
your needs, and how chiropractic care an benefit you.
Reference:
De Jong Z. Arthritis & Rheumatism September 2003:48, pp 2451-2424.
Visit www.chiroweb.com/find/whatis.html
for more on the benefits of chiropractic.
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