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Heat sensitivity and exercise
Andrea T White
University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, USA
Andrea T. White, Research Associate Professor, University of Utah, 250 S. 1850 E, Rm 241, Salt Lake City, UT 84112, USA.
Thermal sensitivity in multiple sclerosis (MS) has been reported as early as 1824 by Charles Prosper Ollivier d’Angers, who observed that a hot bath induced leg numbness and reduced feeling and dexterity in the hands of a patient with MS.1 However, Wilhelm Uhthoff’s 1890 report, in which exercise-induced amblyopia was observed in four patients with MS, is often cited as the earliest observation of heating reactions in MS, referred to as “Uhthoff’s symptom.”2 Since then, heating reactions in MS have been reported in dozens of studies [for a review, see Guthrie and Nelson3]. Further, work in the mid-20th century demonstrated that MS symptom exacerbation was proportional to the degree of temperature elevation, with initial neurological signs appearing after 8 minutes of heating, when body temperature increased by 0.8°C, and maximal signs appearing at temperatures 1.7°C above normal.4 Symptoms resolved an average of 15 minutes after heating ended.4
In this issue of the Multiple Sclerosis Journal, a paper by Skjerbaek et al. demonstrates that heat-related symptom increases in MS are significantly greater following 30 minutes of endurance exercise (EE) compared to a 30-minute session of resistance exercise (RE), results that are consistent with the above-cited work. The purpose of this editorial is to underscore the idea that the inherent difference in EE and RE with respect to heat stress is metabolic heat production, and the selection of one exercise mode over another should be based on fitness and/or rehabilitation goals.
http://msj.sagepub.com/content/19/7/833.full
Andrea T White
University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, USA
Andrea T. White, Research Associate Professor, University of Utah, 250 S. 1850 E, Rm 241, Salt Lake City, UT 84112, USA.
Thermal sensitivity in multiple sclerosis (MS) has been reported as early as 1824 by Charles Prosper Ollivier d’Angers, who observed that a hot bath induced leg numbness and reduced feeling and dexterity in the hands of a patient with MS.1 However, Wilhelm Uhthoff’s 1890 report, in which exercise-induced amblyopia was observed in four patients with MS, is often cited as the earliest observation of heating reactions in MS, referred to as “Uhthoff’s symptom.”2 Since then, heating reactions in MS have been reported in dozens of studies [for a review, see Guthrie and Nelson3]. Further, work in the mid-20th century demonstrated that MS symptom exacerbation was proportional to the degree of temperature elevation, with initial neurological signs appearing after 8 minutes of heating, when body temperature increased by 0.8°C, and maximal signs appearing at temperatures 1.7°C above normal.4 Symptoms resolved an average of 15 minutes after heating ended.4
In this issue of the Multiple Sclerosis Journal, a paper by Skjerbaek et al. demonstrates that heat-related symptom increases in MS are significantly greater following 30 minutes of endurance exercise (EE) compared to a 30-minute session of resistance exercise (RE), results that are consistent with the above-cited work. The purpose of this editorial is to underscore the idea that the inherent difference in EE and RE with respect to heat stress is metabolic heat production, and the selection of one exercise mode over another should be based on fitness and/or rehabilitation goals.
http://msj.sagepub.com/content/19/7/833.full
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