Effects of aerobic exercise on quality of life in patients with rheumatoid arthritis / 中华物理医学与康复杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To assess the quality of life(QOL) in rheumatoid arthritis(RA) patients treated with 12weeks of aerobic exercise(AE) plus medication(methotrexate, MTX, and NSAIDs). Methods The research design was a randomized controlled trial. The patients in AE group received AE plus MTX and NSAIDs, and the patients in the control group received drug therapy only. Results One hundred and twenty six patients completed the trial, AE patients with improvement of 12%～28% from the baseline were better than medicine treated patients in the physical, social, emotional function, self recognized health status and total QOL. Conclusion AE is effective for the patients with RA in the improvement of QOL.