Can lifting weights help liver patients stay stronger?
Resistance Training Increases Muscle Strength and Muscle Size in Patients With Liver Cirrhosis.
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a healthcare professional. Terms
People with a mild form of liver disease lost muscle, but when they did supervised weight training three times a week for 12 weeks, they got stronger and bigger muscles, walked farther, and felt better mentally.
Surprising Findings
Resistance training improved mental well-being (SF-36 score) without any psychological therapy.
It’s uncommon for physical exercise alone to show such a clear mental health benefit in chronic liver disease—most assume mood changes are just from illness or medication.
Practical Takeaways
Adults with compensated cirrhosis (Child-Pugh A/B) should ask their doctor about supervised resistance training 3x/week for 12 weeks.
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a healthcare professional. Terms
People with a mild form of liver disease lost muscle, but when they did supervised weight training three times a week for 12 weeks, they got stronger and bigger muscles, walked farther, and felt better mentally.
Surprising Findings
Resistance training improved mental well-being (SF-36 score) without any psychological therapy.
It’s uncommon for physical exercise alone to show such a clear mental health benefit in chronic liver disease—most assume mood changes are just from illness or medication.
Practical Takeaways
Adults with compensated cirrhosis (Child-Pugh A/B) should ask their doctor about supervised resistance training 3x/week for 12 weeks.
Publication
Journal
Clinical gastroenterology and hepatology : the official clinical practice journal of the American Gastroenterological Association
Year
2020
Authors
Luise Aamann, G. Dam, M. Borre, A. Drljevic-Nielsen, K. Overgaard, H. Andersen, H. Vilstrup, N. Aagaard
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Claims (6)
If adults with a mild form of liver disease do 12 weeks of guided strength training, they can walk farther in six minutes than those who stay inactive—meaning they get stronger and less tired.
For people with early-stage liver disease, doing guided weight or resistance exercises is just as safe as not doing them—no more side effects happened in the exercise group than in the group that didn’t exercise.
If adults with early-stage liver disease do 12 weeks of guided strength training, they tend to feel better mentally—less stressed, less down—than those who stay inactive.
If adults with early-stage liver disease do supervised weight training three times a week for three months, they get noticeably stronger and their thigh muscles grow bigger—this could help them fight off the muscle wasting that often comes with liver disease.
If you have early-stage liver disease and do supervised weight training for 12 weeks, you might gain muscle and lose the wasting that often comes with the disease—while people who don’t exercise stay the same.