Exercise and Physiotherapy

Several years ago the charity ARMS (Action and Research for Multiple Sclerosis) in its research efforts to find ways of minimising the effects of Multiple Sclerosis, showed that physiotherapy has a vital role to play. The exercise and therapy programme they devised used a neurological approach to physiotherapy to help MS patients to:

• Learn to control and co-ordinate movement patterns.
• Reduce spasticity and encourage more normal movements.
• Regain functional abilities.

What can exercise do to help?

It can help:

• To keep muscles strong and strengthen those that are weak.
• To keep joints mobile and prevent stiffness becoming permanent.
• To improve co-ordination and balance.
• To improve circulation, thereby supporting bodily functions.
• To prevent pressure sores.

Physiotherapy

Physiotherapy can teach a person with MS how to recover a good posture for their body - with particular emphasis on the right way to stand, to walk, to rise from a sitting or lying position, and how best to position oneself for sleeping. The benefits can include more normal and easier movement and, as a consequence, the possibility of enjoying a more active life. Preventative therapy is encouraged early in order to avoid secondary disability which arises from disuse.

Physiotherapy treatment programmes should be tailored to the individual needs of each MS person.

Using the basis of careful and detailed assessments the neurologically trained physiotherapist can draw up a physiotherapy regime specific to each MS person. The regime is adjusted appropriately, following re-assessment when the person has made progress or when the symptoms of MS change due to disease activity. Using this as a basis, MS people can be shown how to help themselves in trying to regain movement and co-ordination.

The recommendations of the therapist encourage individual MS people to monitor their own progress resulting from their programme of exercise, and to use the gains made through treatment, in activities of daily living. The best way of teaching and encouraging people with MS is in classes which offer the discipline and sociability of a group, with the leadership of a neurologically trained physiotherapist.