The Effect of resistance training on changes in some cytokines and muscle strength in women with multiple sclerosis

Health professionals believe in the effective role of exercise training on improving the health of MS patients. The present study to investigate changes in serum levels IL4 and 17, as well as muscle strength changes after 8 weeks of regular resistance training.

The present study was a applied and pre-post design. Twenty-two women with multiple sclerosis in the range of 25 to 40 years old and with disability (EDSS = 4) were randomly assigned into experimental and control groups. 8-week training sessions, 3 sessions with 45-60% intensity, one repetition, performed exercises, and the control group did not participate in any regular physical activity. Before and after training, anthropometric tests, upper and lower strength and blood sampling were used to measure the levels of Interleukin 17 and 4. To determine the normal distribution of data, the Smirnov-Kolmogorov test and one-way variance analysis were used for the possible difference in the groups and the paired t-test was used to examine the intra-group changes. The significance level was considered to be P≤0 / 05 and the calculations were performed using SPSS version 18.

The statistical analysis showed that the subjects' strength was significantly higher than the control group (P = 0.001). Interleukin 4 showed a significant increase compared to the control group (P = 0.002), but interleukin 17 did not differ between the two groups. Women with multiple sclerosis seem to be able to use regular moderate-intensity exercise