Types of Exercise for AAV
Exercise plans for people with AAV typically home in on low to moderate activities, with common goals in mind, says Lily Johnston, MD, MPH, a vascular surgeon at Scripps Memorial Hospital and the associate medical director at Nexus HealthSpan in Mission Viejo, California.
“AAV-specific exercise research is limited, but data from AAV studies and related autoimmune and kidney conditions point consistently in the same direction,” she says. “Three goals matter most: easing fatigue, which affects about 75 percent of patients; preserving the muscle and bone that steroids erode; and protecting the heart and kidneys.”
Aerobic Exercise
“Walking is the best-studied, but swimming and cycling are gentler on joints and feet — useful for patients with neuropathy or joint involvement,” Dr. Johnston says.
Resistance Training
Strength training can help your lower body, in particular, Johnston says.
“Most AAV patients have measurably weaker leg muscles than peers, and lower leg strength tracks with worse physical quality of life,” she says. “People should try for two or three sessions a week of bodyweight squats, leg presses, or resistance-band work. Steroid [treatment] accelerates bone and muscle loss, so resistance and weight-bearing exercise serve a protective function.”
Controlled resistance exercises, in which you work with weights, bands, or a similar external force, are also important to improve muscle mass and joint stability with minimal stress on the nervous system, says Ron Miller, DPT, the owner of Pursuit Physical Therapy in Orlando, Florida.
“The ‘less is more’ approach is important, as many patients with autoimmune conditions respond better to consistency rather than intensity,” he says. “Shorter, repeatable sessions typically still yield good results compared to the ‘all-or-nothing’ approach to exercise. Instead, I want exercise that leaves the body feeling better an hour afterward than it did before, rather than (feeling) exhausted for the next two days.”
Balance and Flexibility
“This is particularly useful for patients on long-term prednisone or with peripheral neuropathy,” Johnston says.
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