Formal Ride bicycle Mobility can be significantly improved in patients with muscular dystrophy (MD), an inherited disease that causes muscle degeneration, a study led by McMaster researchers suggests.
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According to senior author Mark Tarnopolsky, cycling for 35 minutes, three times a week, for 12 weeks resulted in a 32 percent increase in overall health in people with MD.
The patients participating in the study also saw their muscle mass increase by 1.6 kg and their body fat loss by 2%. They were also able to walk an additional 47 meters in six minutes, as tested by the researchers at the end of the 12-week trial.
Tarnopolsky’s team recruited 11 MD patients to test how effective cycling was in restoring and maintaining their physical health. The researchers also investigated the underlying molecular mechanisms through which exercise strengthens skeletal muscle, which can be severely impaired by MD.
“Exercise is really a medicine – we just need to get the message across,” said Tarnopolsky, professor of pediatrics and medicine.
“Muscle dystrophy is a progressive condition that will impair your mobility and may leave you in a wheelchair.” Tarnopolsky says there is no cure and only regular exercise can help patients achieve better function.
“MD itself is really a form of accelerated aging,” he says.
The study was recently published in Journal of Clinical Investigation.
Some MD patients were even advised by their doctors not to exercise, for fear of making their condition worse, but that has now been proven false, Tarnopolsky said.
Previous research in mouse models showed a similar set of physiological benefits from regular exercise, the study authors said.
MD is the most commonly diagnosed type of muscular dystrophy in adults and the second most common of all types of muscular dystrophy, Tarnopolsky says.
The main symptoms of MD include severe skeletal muscle atrophy, general weakness, decreased lung capacity, and impaired cardiac function. Other possible symptoms include cataracts, endocrine disorders including diabetes, and digestive disorders.
About 19,000 Canadians live with MD or another type of muscular dystrophy, Tarnopolsky said.
External funding for this study was provided by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research.
