Light Exercises Beneficial For Kidney Dialysis Patients: Study

News Desk

Islamabad: Patients who engage in mild exercise while receiving dialysis are physically fitter and are admitted to hospitals less frequently than those who do not, according to a large-scale study.

According to researchers at the Technical University of Munich (TUM) in Germany, exercise regimens should be offered to dialysis patients as a standard.

With severely impaired kidney function, people require dialysis several times per week. Many also suffer from additional health issues, such as diabetes and heart disease.

The limitations imposed by these diseases and the time required for dialysis often mean that those affected engage in little physical exercise. We wanted to change that, said TUM Professor of Preventive and Rehabilitative Sports Medicine Martin Halle.

In the study, the team involved about 1,000 patients at 21 dialysis centres in Germany. Over a 12-month period, half of the study participants completed accompanied exercise sessions at least once and ideally three times per week alongside their dialysis, while others were subject only to medical monitoring.

These sessions included 30 minutes of endurance training with a bed-cycle ergometer and a further 30 minutes of exercises with weights, resistance bands, and balls. The exercises were tailored to each patient’s abilities.

In comparison to the control group, the health of the study’s active participants had dramatically improved after a year. It’s true that this kind of examination may not seem to be very representative of daily life, stated Martin in a paper published in the journal NEJM Evidence–New England Journal of Medicine.

However, the findings show real gains in autonomy and quality of life. For instance, the participants could independently rise from a chair at home which was not always possible before.

Additionally, participants who attended frequent training sessions stayed in the hospital on average for two days, as opposed to the control group’s five days.

Halle further added that we were able to improve the participants’ health and also reduce the costs to the healthcare system with relatively little outlay.