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BMC Gastroenterology
Published in: BMC Gastroenterology 1/2019

Open Access 01-12-2019 | Ulcerative Colitis | Research article

Structured physical activity interventions as a complementary therapy for patients with inflammatory bowel disease – a scoping review and practical implications

Authors: Katharina G. Eckert, Isabelle Abbasi-Neureither, Maximilian Köppel, Gerhard Huber

Published in: BMC Gastroenterology | Issue 1/2019

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Abstract

Background

Patients with Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) also suffer from a wide range of additional disorders, which may be caused by the disease, the side effect of the medication, or a lack of physical activity (PA). This results in reduced physical and psychological wellbeing. However, as known from other chronic diseases exercise could be utilized as supportive therapy for IBD patients. Main goals of this article are (a) collecting data of the effects structured physical activity interventions have on validated clinical parameters of IBD and health related symptoms, (b) developing activity recommendations for this clientele.

Methods

A scoping review was conducted, searching for relevant articles published until May 2018, which investigated the effects of structured exercise interventions in IBD patients. The heterogeneity of the outcomes and the interventions did not support a quantitative synthesis thus, a qualitative discussion of the studies is provided.

Results

After reviewing 353 records, 13 eligible articles were identified. Five studies investigated aerobic exercise, three studies resistance exercise, three studies mind-body therapies and two studies yoga. The quality of the studies is mixed, and the duration is rather short for exercise interventions. Only few studies assessed validated IBD activity markers or inflammatory biomarkers. Nevertheless, the patients showed an increase in fitness, bone mineral density (BMD), quality of life and a decrease of IBD induced stress and anxiety. No severe adversial events were reported.

Conclusion

Even though the evidence is limited the application of exercise interventions in IBD patients can be assumed to be safe and beneficial for the patients‘ overall-health, and IBD specific physical and psychosocial symptoms. But there is still a high demand for more thoroughly conducted studies, focussing on important clinical outcome parameters.
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Metadata
Title
Structured physical activity interventions as a complementary therapy for patients with inflammatory bowel disease – a scoping review and practical implications
Authors
Katharina G. Eckert
Isabelle Abbasi-Neureither
Maximilian Köppel
Gerhard Huber
Publication date
01-12-2019
Publisher
BioMed Central
Published in
BMC Gastroenterology / Issue 1/2019
Electronic ISSN: 1471-230X
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1186/s12876-019-1034-9

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