RESEARCH - Patients with RA should participate in exercise programs

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Patients With Rheumatoid Arthritis Should Participate in Exercise Programs

Laurie Barclay, MD

October 8, 2009 — Patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) should

participate in regular exercise programs, according to the results of

a review reported online in the October 7 issue of the Cochrane

Database of Systematic Reviews.

" Based on the evidence in this study, we would recommend aerobic

capacity training combined with muscle strength training as routine

practice for RA patients, " lead author Dr. Emalie Hurkmans, from the

Leiden University Medical Center in Leiden, the Netherlands, said in a

news release. " But we need more research to establish the recommended

length and type of exercise programs, whether patients need to be

supervised and if these programs are cost effective. "

The goal of this review was to determine the efficacy and safety for

people with RA of land or water-based dynamic exercise therapy

programs consisting of aerobic capacity and/or muscle strength

training. Short-term exercise programs were defined as less than 3

months' duration and long-term as greater than 3 months. After a

search of the literature to December 2008 of various databases, the

reviewers updated a previous 1998 Cochrane review and categorized the

different forms of dynamic exercise programs.

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Read the full article here:

http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/710135

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