Editorial
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2015. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Orthop. Nov 18, 2015; 6(10): 762-769
Published online Nov 18, 2015. doi: 10.5312/wjo.v6.i10.762
Effects of exercise on physical limitations and fatigue in rheumatic diseases
Giuseppe Musumeci
Giuseppe Musumeci, Department of Biomedical and Biotechnological Sciences, Human Anatomy and Histology Section, School of Medicine, University of Catania, 95123 Catania, Italy
Author contributions: Musumeci G solely contributed to this paper.
Supported by A grant-in-aid from FIR 2014-2016 (COD: 314509), University of Catania.
Conflict-of-interest statement: No conflict of interest is declared by any of the authors.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Correspondence to: Giuseppe Musumeci, PhD, Master of Science, Department of Biomedical and Biotechnological Sciences, Human Anatomy and Histology Section, School of Medicine, University of Catania, 95123 Catania, Italy. g.musumeci@unict.it
Telephone: +39-095-3782043 Fax: +39-095-3782044
Received: May 12, 2015
Peer-review started: May 12, 2015
First decision: July 28, 2015
Revised: August 8, 2015
Accepted: August 30, 2015
Article in press: August 31, 2015
Published online: November 18, 2015
Abstract

Physical activity covers not just sports but also simple everyday movements such as housework, walking and playing. Regular exercise has a great importance in maintaining good health, indeed inactivity is a risk factor for different chronic diseases. Physical exercise can play a crucial role in the treatment of rheumatic diseases, optimizing both physical and mental health, enhancing energy, decreasing fatigue and improving sleep. An exercise program for patients with rheumatic diseases aims to preserve or restore a range of motion of the affected joints, to increase muscle strength and endurance, and to improve mood and decrease health risks associated with a sedentary lifestyle. In this editorial I describe the benefits of the exercise on physical limitations and fatigue in rheumatic diseases that seem to have a short and long-term effectiveness. A literature review was conducted on PubMed, Scopus and Google Scholar using appropriate keywords based on the present editorial.

Keywords: Physical activity, Physiatric rehabilitation therapy, Rheumatic diseases, Flexibility training, Home exercise program, Knee osteoarthtritis

Core tip: In this interesting editorial, I illustrated the beneficial effects of the physical activity in our life and in rheumatic diseases, including home and gym exercise programs, flexibility training and physiatric rehabilitation therapy. Physical exercise is able to improve balance, reduce pain, activate muscle and increase functional joint stability in patients with rheumatic diseases and osteoarthritis. The benefits of the exercise on physical limitations and fatigue in rheumatic diseases that seem to have a short and long-term effectiveness.