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SYSTEMATIC REVIEW article
Front. Physiol.
Sec. Exercise Physiology
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fphys.2025.1558214
The effect of exercise therapy on pain, fatigue, physical function and inflammatory biomarkers individuals with rheumatoid arthritis: A meta-research review of randomized controlled trials
Provisionally accepted- 1 Zhoushan Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine Affiliated to Zhejiang Chinese Medical University, Zhoushan, Zhejiang Province, China
- 2 Hangzhou Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Hangzhou, China
Background: Accumulating evidence suggested the potential role of exercise in alleviating rheumatoid arthritis (RA). However, whether exercise improves physical function (walk test, grip strength, muscle strength, joint assessments) and inflammatory biomarkers in patients with RA is unclear. This umbrella meta-analysis aimed to examine the effect of exercise in patients with RA.Method: PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, Embase, and Cochrane Central Library databases were systematically searched for meta-analyses of randomized control trials (RCTs) to retrieve relevant studies. The effect sizes were pooled using a random-effects model, with standardized or weighted mean differences (SMDs or WMDs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) as summary statistics.Results: Seventeen studies were included. The improving effects of exercise on fatigue levels (SMD= -0.28, 95% CI: -0.44, -0.13), pain intensity (ES = -0.50, 95% CI: -0.87, -0.14), disease activity score in joints (DAS) (WMD = -0.54, 95% CI: -0.99, -0.09; and SMD = -0.47, 95% CI: -0.64, -0.30), and ESR (ES = -0.85, 95% CI: -1.66, -0.03) were significant. No significant impact on the hand grip, muscle strength, walk test, joints and inflammatory biomarkers was observed.Exercise significantly reduces fatigue, pain, DAS, and ESR in RA but shows no impact on grip strength, muscle strength, walk test, joints, or other inflammatory biomarkers. This highlights its role in symptom management rather than broad physiological changes.
Keywords: Exercise, Walk, physical activity, inflamma- tion, Meta - analysis
Received: 09 Jan 2025; Accepted: 03 Mar 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Fu, Zhang, Wang, Yue and Zhu. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Liang Zhang, Hangzhou Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Hangzhou, China
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.