Skip to content

Deconditioning, orthostatic intolerance, exercise and chronic illness: Part 6

Exercise can be very effective in treating deconditioning due to orthostatic intolerance or other conditions. Exercise can exacerbate symptoms in deconditioned patients even when it is mild, and this effect will be more pronounced if exercising in hot weather or after eating. Recumbent exercise, rather upright, is ideal for deconditioned patients at the beginning of exercise regimens, as being upright more stress on the body.

There are some physical maneuvers that can be helpful in avoiding OI episodes or in managing them when they do occur.   A sustained hand grip will activate the sympathetic nervous system and raise blood pressure for a short time. This can be helpful when changing position or following triggering activities, such as eating a meal or exercising. Leg crossing while tensing muscles can also prevent blood from pooling in the leg veins. This is recommended when an OI episode first occurs, and for vasovagal syncope patients to prevent fainting.

One study regimen prescribed POTS patients to engage in recumbent exercise 2-4 times a week for 30-45 minute sessions. In this study, they attempted to keep heart rate at 75-85% of maximum heart rate. As patients continued and became more fit, upright exercise was added in slowly in the second or third week. The length of training sessions increased and sessions of maximum intensity was added gradually until there were two maximum sessions per week. Weight lifting started once a week as a 15-20 minute session and increased to twice weekly 30-40 minute sessions. At the end, patients were exercising 5-6 hours/week. The duration of this study was twelve weeks.

Of the 29 patients who completed this study, a number of cardiovascular markers were improved. Blood volume and plasma volume were both expanded. The peak oxygen uptake during exercise, usually low for POTS patients, was increased by 11%. The muscle in the left ventricle of the heart, often smaller than usual in POTS patients, increased by 8%. Both laying down and standing heart rates decreasing significantly. Quality of life improved significantly and at the conclusion, almost half of the patients who completed the training no longer met the criteria for POTS.

Another study had POTS patients begin exercising twice a week in recumbent exercise, such as rowing or swimming, for 30-45 minutes. They increased to four times per week. After three months, plasma and blood volumes were both increased, as well as total hemoglobin mass and red blood cell volume. Systolic and diastolic pressures were lower while standing. Standing heart rate was lower and the amount of blood pumped out of the heart was stable.

Multiple papers have noted that OI patients are motivated to exercise, but often exert themselves too much in the beginning and trigger symptoms that make it difficult to continue. Going slowly and building up your tolerance is critical here. It is the factor that will make this successful. As an example, when I was very POTSy last year after several days of bed rest, I was advised that I could only stand for 10 minutes a day for an entire week. I could increase by ten minutes every week until I got to sixty, at which point I could resume normal activity. It was incredibly frustrating and drove me crazy, but I was able to get my orthostatic symptoms under control. Gradually increasing activity for OI patients is tried and true.

For severely disabled patients, it may not be practical to begin with recumbent aerobic exercises. If this is the case, gentle stretching and very low impact moves are good to start.

Following this, short workouts preceded by 5-10 minutes of stretching can be added. Target heart rate of 75-80% has been cited as desirable in some publications. Of utmost importance is the use of recumbent exercises, like rowing, swimming or recumbent cycling. Start slow. Dysautonomia International has a great breakdown on their site for how long you should workout at this stage.

Following several weeks of success, normal weekends can be introduced. Some patients are able to recover significant capability, running marathons and so on. It is recommended that POTS patients who are significantly conditioned exercise for at least 45 minutes three times a week.

While OI is a prime example of deconditioning as so many of its patients are deconditioned (95% of POTS patients and 91% of OI patients in one study), it is not the only condition associated with deconditioning that can be significantly improved with exercise.

In various studies with chronic fatigue syndrome patients, 60-84% said they felt better or much better after a graded exercise program. A study with fibromyalgia implemented three times a week workouts of sixty minutes, which included 10 minutes of slow walking, 20 minutes of aerobic exercise at 60-70% max heart rate, 20 minutes stretching and strength training, and 10 minutes cooling down. This program was highly successful for a number of patients.

Given the variety of illnesses which produce secondary deconditioning, and the success achieved by their patient populations with graded exercise, it is reasonable to assume that graded exercise may provide conditioning benefits to the mast cell population. Mast cell patients have the addition concerns that mast cells can be mechanically degranulated by the motions associated with vigorous exercise and that heat and sweating may be triggering, so exercise should be undertaken carefully and never alone. Some patients find utility in premedicating with H1 and H2 antihistamines before exercising. Please consult with your healthcare provider prior to beginning an exercise regimen.

 

References:

De Lorenzo, H. Xiao, M. Mukherjee, J. Harcup, S. Suleiman, Z. Kadziola and V.V. Kakkar. Chronic fatigue syndrome: physical and cardiovascular deconditioning. Q J Med 1998; 91:475–481.

Hasser, E. M. And Moffitt, J. A. (2001), Regulation of Sympathetic Nervous System Function after Cardiovascular Deconditioning. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 940: 454–468.

Mathias, C. J. et al. Postural tachycardia syndrome – current experience and concepts. Nat. Rev. Neurol. 8, 22–34 (2012).

Parsaik A., et al. Deconditioning in patients with orthostatic intolerance. Neurology 2012; 79; 1435.

Benarroch, Eduardo E. Postural tachycardia syndrome: a heterogeneous and multifactorial disorder. Mayo Clin Proc 2012 Dec; 87(12): 1214-1225.

Shizue Masuki , John H. Eisenach , William G. Schrage , Christopher P. Johnson , Niki M. Dietz , Brad W. Wilkins , Paola Sandroni , Phillip A. Low , Michael J. Joyner. Reduced stroke volume during exercise in postural tachycardia syndrome. Journal of Applied Physiology Published 1 October 2007 Vol. 103 no. 4, 1128-1135.

Sung-Moon Jeong , Gyu-Sam Hwang , Seon-Ok Kim , Benjamin D. Levine , Rong Zhang. Dynamic cerebral autoregulation after bed rest: effects of volume loading and exercise countermeasures. Journal of Applied Physiology 2014 Vol. 116 no. 1, 24-31.