ERA-EDTA 2019 | More sports, fewer symptoms: How CKD patients benefit from physical exercise

Symptoms such as fatigue, sleep disorders, muscle weakness, restless legs, itching, bone/joint pain and impotence severely limit the quality of life of patients with chronic kidney disease. A new study [1] shows that supervised aerobic exercise, or a combination of supervised aerobic exercise and resistance training can effectively reduce the symptom burden.

Patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD) experience a high symptom burden. The most commonly reported symptoms in non-dialysis-dependent CKD patients include fatigue, sleep disorders, muscle weakness, restless legs, itching and bone/joint pain. All of them limit the patients’ quality of life immensely. It is known that 96% of all CKD patients suffer at least one of these symptoms.

In many cases, a vicious circle begins as soon as one of these symptoms is evident: Due to muscle pain, fatigue or weakness, the patient abstains from physical activity. This results, in turn, in a further reduction of physical function that reinforces itself through a feedback loop. The patient feels too weak to do sports – and feels so weak because he or she does not engage in any sports activities. Breaking this vicious circle is obviously a worthwhile endeavor. Patients benefit in many respects. There is already evidence of positive physiological and psychological changes in CKD patients following exercise, but a study now published in ckj [1] has shown for the first time that the high symptom burden of CKD patients can also be effectively reduced. 

Thirty-six patients [mean ± SD 62 ± 12 years, 22 (61%) females, estimated glomerular filtration rate: 25 ± 8 mL/min/1.73 m2 ] not requiring renal replacement therapy underwent 12 weeks (3 times a week) of supervised aerobic exercise, or a combination of aerobic exercise plus resistance training. Exercise reduced the total number of symptoms reported by 17% and had favorable effects on fatigue in both groups. Aerobic exercise reduced the frequency of ‘itching’, ‘impotence’ and ‘shortness of breath’ symptoms, and the intrusiveness for the symptoms ‘sleep disturbance’, ‘loss of muscular strength/power’, ‘muscle spasm/stiffness’ and ‘restless legs’.

“Although we have to keep in mind that this was a small study without a control group, and although the authors of the study admit that further research is needed to elucidate the physiological and psychological mechanisms by which exercise influences symptoms, the results are overwhelming”, comments Professor Alberto Ortiz, ckj editor-in-chief. “We should motivate our patients to do sports and be physically active. I believe that supervised exercise should be an integral part of nephrological care”.