Overturning Traditional Wisdom - Exercise Now Shown to Slowdown Multiple Sclerosis

We all know some of the obvious benefits of exercise - lowering blood pressure, cardiovascular health, losing weight, and improving your mood - but now studies are showing that exercise can do even more. It’s been recently found that exercise can slow down the progression of multiple sclerosis.

The degenerative disease damages the brain and spinal cord, causing effects including: loss of muscle control, vision, balance, sensations, and cognitive abilities.

It’s unknown what causes MS, but genetics is one common factor. MS is an autoimmune disease, which means that the nerves of the brain and spinal cord are damaged by a person’s own immune system.

The two most common forms of the disease, according to WebMD, are:

• Relapsing-remitting MS: characterized by unpredictable acute attacks, called ‘exacerbations,’ with worsening symptoms, followed by full, partial, or no recovery of some function. These attacks can evolve over several days to weeks. Recovery from an attack can take weeks and sometimes months. In most people, this pattern usually occurs early in the course of MS.
• Primary-progressive MS: characterized by a gradual but steady progression of disability, without any obvious relapses and remissions. This form of disease occurs in just 15% of all people with MS, but it is the most common type of MS in people who develop the disease after the age of 40.

To understand exactly how exercise helps slow down the progression of MS, first you have to understand a little bit more about how the disease works.

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