Learning About ‘Six-Month Resistance Training Interventions’
One of my highlights on Sunday at ASH 2024 was attending the session by Janine Joseph, MS, MBA. The title was, “Six-Month Resistance Training Interventions Are Associated with Improvements in Fatigue and Pain in Multiple Myeloma Patients.”
Because most patients experience some physical problems, I truly wanted to learn more.
This study explores the impact of different physical exercise (PE) interventions on the quality of life (QOL) of patients with multiple myeloma (MM), focusing on fatigue, pain, depression, and anxiety. Despite concerns about MM-related bone disease, the study confirms that PE, including resistance training (RT) and walking (W), can be safe and beneficial for MM patients.
The objective of the study was aimed to assess the effects of PE on QOL in MM patients, including specific symptoms like fatigue, pain, depression, and anxiety. The participants: MM patients enrolled in either a 6-month pilot intervention (supervised in-person RT group: unsupervised home-based W group or a 6-month remotely supervised RT intervention.) Quality-of-life assessments were done at three time points—baseline, end of intervention, and 6 months post-intervention.
The results were favorable. Fatigue improved during the intervention, particularly in the RT groups, but this improvement was lost post-intervention. Notably, after the intervention, there were increases in reported energy loss, feeling slowed down, and sleep problems. Pain improved in the supervised RT group during the intervention, with a significant reduction in visual analog scale (VAS) score, and these improvements persisted after the intervention. Depression did not show any significant changes in any of the groups throughout the study period. Anxiety worsened in the combined sample during the intervention, with the W group showing a notable decline. However, the changes in anxiety did not reach statistical significance, and it remains unclear if the anxiety change was related to the intervention or other factors. This may have been the result of a fear of injury.
The overall conclusion of the study is resistance training interventions are effective in improving fatigue and pain in MM patients, with sustained improvements in pain even after the intervention. Fatigue improvements were not sustained post-intervention, highlighting a potential area for further investigation into how to maintain such improvements long-term.
Anxiety showed a slight increase in the W group, but the cause of this increase remains uncertain. This was alarming to me since I am a former runner and currently a serious walker. Overall, RT interventions support physical QOL in MM patients, and further research is needed to explore how to sustain these benefits.
This analysis contributes valuable insights into how exercise interventions can support QOL in MM patients and underscores the need for additional strategies to help maintain long-term benefits.
I hope this has been helpful to you. The value of being as healthy as possible with MM is what I heard during the question and answer following the presentation. So much to learn and absorb. More to come later.