Exercise shown to improve symptoms of patients with chronic kidney disease
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Just 12 weeks of aerobic and strength-based exercise reduces symptoms and levels of fatigue in patients with chronic kidney disease, a study has found.
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Patients with chronic kidney disease experience many unpleasant symptoms, including fatigue and pain.
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In general – exercise improves physical fitness levels and strength but until now we had little evidence that exercise also has a significant positive effect on symptoms in this patient group, as well as on their self-reported quality of life.
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It has been shown that exercise has positive benefits on patients’ reported symptoms.
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These include sleep problems, weakness, muscle spasms and restless legs.
*To maximise the health benefits, patients should undertake both aerobic and strength training exercises.
Thomas J Wilkinson, Emma L Watson, Douglas W Gould, Soteris Xenophontos, Amy L Clarke, Barbara P Vogt, João L Viana, Alice C Smith. Twelve weeks of supervised exercise improves self-reported symptom burden and fatigue in chronic kidney disease: a secondary analysis of the ‘ExTra CKD’ trial. Clinical Kidney Journal, 2018; DOI: 10.1093/ckj/sfy071