Exercise Does Ailing Hearts Good
November 9th, 2007 Posted by: Dr. Cox
(Ivanhoe Newswire) â Just 30 minutes a day on an exercise bike can help people with heart failure regain some of their lost strength.
Two new studies from the same investigators report benefits for both cells involved in muscle repair and cells involved in creating new blood vessels in muscle.
The first study compared results for 25 men with moderate-to-severe heart failure who took part in an exercise program and 25 who remained inactive. Researchers compared biopsies taken from a large muscle in the outer thigh both before and after the exercise program. Men who exercised saw a significant increase in progenitor cells â cells capable of turning into cells needed to repair muscles damaged by the condition.
The second study looked at the ability of exercise to foster progenitor cells in blood vessels found in muscle tissue, again finding a positive effect for exercise. The study was conducted among 37 men with severe heart failure.
Heart failure results when the heart canât pump enough blood to the body, and most people with the condition avoid exercise because itâs hard to engage in physical activity under these circumstances. But these studies suggest exercise is actually the key to recovery.
âWhether you have moderate or severe heart failure, you can benefit from exercise therapy,â study author Axel Linke, M.D., from the University of Leipzig in Germany, was quoted as saying. âWith exercise, the number of progenitor cells became almost normal, the cells started to divide again, and they began to differentiate into myocytes (muscle cells). And thatâs exactly what patients with heart failure need â replacement of muscle cells.â
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SOURCE: Presented at the American Heart Associationâs Scientific Sessions 2007,
Nov. 7, 2007