What is OPTMISTIC?
What is Exercise Therapy ?
What is Exercise Therapy?
Exercise training or therapy can take many different forms. For some people it may be moving more and sitting less and for others it may mean getting on a bike, jogging or lifting weights. The ultimate goal is to use physical activity to improve health and wellbeing. Physical activity and physical fitness are known to be associated with achieving lifelong health and wellbeing. Leading a more active lifestyle can influence many aspects of everyday life; from how much an individual socialises to their cardiac health and function. However maintaining a physically active lifestyle poses greater challenges when faced with neuromuscular diseases such as DM1.
Exercise therapy can be used not only to promote an active lifestyle but also to encourage a change in behaviour and improve quality of life.
Why can it help DM1?
The main aims of exercise therapy in OPTIMISTIC are to:
- Promote an active lifestyle.
- Improve skeletal muscle function.
- Reduce Fatigue.
- Assess cardiac function.
- Improve quality of life.
Further Information
In this section you can find out more about exercise therapy and how it has been used in previous trials. MoveLab is the interdisciplinary centre that is in charge of the exercise therapy in this trial.
OPTIMISTIC will use expertise from a range of sources to develop a pathway that can be used and repeated in other clinical settings. Experts involved in this project have previously developed an online disease specific tool for diabetes type 2 and aim to achieve the same for people affected by DM1. The pathway will be developed for both professionals and patients in order to continue development beyond the trial.
The OPTIMSTIC trial will use exercise therapy not only to improve muscle function and quality of life but also to address clinical needs about cardiac safety.