Resistance Training Reduces Muscle Wasting in Kidney Patients

Making News:

Patients undergoing hemodialysis to manage end-stage renal disease (ESRD) generally experience significant muscle wasting, which can impair strength, muscle mass and quality of life. A study published in the May issue of the Journal of the American Society of Nephrology (2007; 18, 1594–1601) sought to determine whether a 12-week, high-intensity resistance training program could foster improvements in skeletal muscle and impede the incidence of muscle wasting in ESRD patients.

Study authors assigned 49 patients from the hemodialysis outpatient unit of the St. George Public Hospital in Sidney, Australia, to a no-exercise control group or a progressive resistance training (PRT) group. Both groups continued their hemodialysis treatment protocol. The PRT group also participated in a high-intensity program consisting of 2 sets of 10 free-weight exercises 3 times a week for 12 weeks. Information on the types of exercises was not available. By the end of the study, quality of life, exercise capacity, muscle strength, body weight, mid-thigh and mid-arm circumference and other health-related factors had improved in the PRT group compared with the control group. According to the authors, “these findings suggest that patients with ESRD can improve skeletal muscle quality and derive other health-related adaptations solely by engaging in a 12-week high-intensity PRT regimen during routine hemodialysis treatment sessions.”