Multiple sclerosis: strength training protects the brain

Christiane Fux studied journalism and psychology in Hamburg. The experienced medical editor has been writing magazine articles, news and factual texts on all conceivable health topics since 2001. In addition to her work for, Christiane Fux is also active in prose. Her first crime novel was published in 2012, and she also writes, designs and publishes her own crime plays.

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The brain shrinks faster in patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) than in healthy people. Weight training can slow this process down - and thus possibly slow down the progression of the disease.

Multiple sclerosis progresses in flares. Until some time ago it was feared that sport could encourage such sudden deterioration. It is now known that physical activity can improve many of the symptoms associated with multiple sclerosis. This includes the ability to walk, the degree of exhaustion and tiredness from which many patients suffer, but also muscle strength and endurance.

“We investigated whether physical activity could not only improve the symptoms of multiple sclerosis, but also protect the nervous system from the disease,” says Prof. Ulrik Dalgas from Aarhus University.

Weight training, twice a week

For the study, the researchers followed 35 patients with MS over a period of six months. Half of them did strength training twice a week, the others stayed with their usual amount of exercise. At the beginning and at the end of the study, the scientists took MRI images of the participants. They found that the brain matter of the participants in the training group had decreased less than that of the other participants.

Not a substitute for medication

Medicines can also slow down the shrinkage process. "But we saw that strength training had an additional effect," says Dalgas. In some areas of the brain, the substance has even increased slightly again. However, the training cannot replace the medication.

The researchers cannot yet explain why strength training has this positive effect. And whether all people with MS could benefit equally from it is still unclear and will be investigated in larger studies. Patients should therefore not start intensive strength training without consulting their doctor.

Illness with a thousand faces

Multiple sclerosis is an intermittent, chronic inflammation of the central nervous system and is one of the autoimmune diseases. Here, airborne air cells attack the insulating myelin layer of the neurons in the central nervous system and thus cause disturbances in signal transmission and ultimately the destruction of the nerve cells.

MS is seen as a disease with a thousand faces. The course, but also the spectrum of symptoms are diverse. They depend on the areas of the nervous system in which foci of inflammation develop. The complaints range from gait disorders, weakness or visual and speech disorders to symptoms of paralysis and abnormal sensations through to pronounced exhaustion and tiredness (fatigue).

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