MS Fatigue and Balance Issues? Get in the Pool!

MS Fatigue and Balance Issues? Get in the Pool!

Research shows that aquatic therapy can help with two major MS symptoms.

MS Fatigue and Balance Issues? Get in the Pool!
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for Life With Multiple Sclerosis
Published on February 14, 2023
Everyday Health Blogs

Ahhh. I’m just back from the pool. Not, unfortunately, at a tropical resort where a waiter is on hand to serve up some exotic concoction in an oversized glass and garnished with an umbrella. Though it was a hotel pool — this was our local fitness center that I’m using to rehab my hip and back after my Christmastime falls.

I was fortunate enough to be able to connect with the physiotherapist who worked with me during a weeklong inpatient MS rehabilitation clinic I attended back in the summer of 2001. She had notes from our sessions together — some of which were in a therapy pool — and suggested that I get back in the water for a while.

A series of low-impact movements to increase my range of motion while not impacting on the joints and soft tissue affected by my falls was prescribed. That I have a local pool less than 2 kilometers away for this course of rehabilitation is convenient, indeed, and I am feeling the benefits after just a few sessions.

My therapist feels it won’t be long before I’ll be ready to resume my “land-based” exercise — walking.

MS Tips From the Red Carpet

MS Tips From the Red Carpet

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Study Finds Benefits for Fatigue and Balance

This experience brings to mind a study I read last summer in the journal Multiple Sclerosis and Related Disorders. (Oh, don’t I have some “related disorders”!) In it, researchers combed through 170 published researcher papers and found 16 studies that satisfied their criteria for review.

In collating the data from those studies, which followed nearly 800 people with MS, they found significant evidence that aquatic therapy shows benefit in improving fatigue and balance issues for people with MS.

The research team was also looking for evidence that water-based exercise might improve motor function in people with MS.

While they observed evidence of improvements in fatigue, based on the Modified Fatigue Impact Scale (MFIS) and better balance scores on the Berg Balance Scale (BBS), they reported no data to indicate improvement in motor function based on in-pool therapy.

As many of us know, cognitive difficulties can increase when we are fatigued, so one can assume that some clearing of the old cog fog might be an added benefit to donning the swim togs and getting into the water.

Tips for Successful Water Exercise With MS

A few tips that were given to me by my physiotherapist that I’ll pass on:

  • Mind yourself on the way in and out of the pool. From changing room and showers to the poolside decking, slips and falls are far easier on these wet surfaces, and we already have a risk of falls.
  • Look for cool pool water. Ask about the temperature that your local pool keeps its water. It’s not unusual for them to try to keep it on the warm side when they are thinking of therapy as it can benefit some. (Think: arthritis.) Cooler water would be better for most of us with MS.
  • Cool off before and after. If your pool is a bit warm, take a cooling shower before and after your exercise session. This will help to keep your body core temperature down and hopefully avert any pseudoexacerbations.
  • Be gentle with yourself. As you would with any new exercise routine, work up to your pool exercises. Get some advice from a physical therapist on some simple exercises to begin, and advance them as your body is ready.

Wishing you and your family the best of health.

Cheers,

Trevis

Important: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and not Everyday Health.

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Trevis Gleason

Author

Trevis L. Gleason is an award-winning chef, writer, consultant, and instructor who was diagnosed with secondary progressive multiple sclerosis in 2001. He is an active volunteer and ambassador for the National Multiple Sclerosis Society and speaks to groups, both large and small, about living life fully with or without a chronic illness. He writes for a number of MS organizations, like The Multiple Sclerosis Society of Ireland, and has been published in The Irish Times, Irish Examiner, Irish Independent, The Lancet, and The New England Journal of Medicine.

His memoir, Chef Interrupted, won the Prestige Award of the International Jury at the Gourmand International World Cookbook Awards, and his book, Dingle Dinners, represented Ireland in the 2018 World Cookbook Awards. Apart from being an ambassador MS Ireland and the Blas na hÉireann Irish Food Awards, Gleason is a former U.S. Coast Guard navigator. Gleason lives in Seattle, Washington and County Kerry, Ireland with his wife, Caryn, and their two wheaten terriers, Sadie and Maggie.

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