Manchester Metropolitan University<\/a> (MMU) analysed the structured exercise programme that the private gym group has offered free of charge to more than 40,000 joint pain sufferers in the 10 boroughs in Greater Manchester.<\/p>\nThey did two one-hour classes a week in a Nuffield gym, led by a rehabilitation specialist, and did exercises to boost their mobility, stability, strength and cardiovascular health.<\/p>\n
People who took part saw the following benefits:<\/p>\n
Had on average 35% less pain.<\/p>\n
Went to see their GP 29% less often.<\/p>\n
Took almost half as many sick days from work.<\/p>\n
Needed their family to look after them 21% less.<\/p>\n
\u201cTailored, structured exercise is one of the most effective treatments for people with long-term conditions. If movement were a pill, it would be the most powerful drug on the planet, yet it remains under-prescribed.<\/p>\n
\u201cIntegrating it as a treatment into mainstream healthcare would transform lives on a scale no drug could\u201d, said Dr Davina Deniszczyc, Nuffield Health\u2019s charity and medical director.<\/p>\n
The analysis found that if 184,000 of the 334,000 MSK patients in Greater Manchester took up Nuffield\u2019s offer of free exercise, that would deliver \u00a31.7bn of \u201csocial value\u201d.<\/p>\n
Expand this to cover the whole and that figure would rise to \u00a334bn, the researchers said. That would be made up of \u00a318bn of benefits of improved health, \u00a313bn of benefits to relatives and carers, a \u00a33bn boost to the economy and \u00a3230m in direct savings for the NHS.<\/p>\n
For example, participants\u2019 health-related quality of life rose by 13%, which was calculated to be worth \u00a36,680 in financial terms. Similarly, their drop in sick days was estimated to be worth \u00a3501 while the 10% increase in their family\u2019s life satisfaction was valued at \u00a34,765.<\/p>\n
Nick Woolley, a manager at Frontier Economics, said at the start of Nuffield\u2019s joint pain programme, one in four of those who attended the classes could not work and by then end of the 12 weeks, almost one in 10 were fit enough to return to work.<\/p>\n
Prof Tim Cable, the director of MMU\u2019s institute of sport, said the research showed \u201cthe transformative role of movement\u201d in alleviating pain among the 25 million Britons with one or more long-term health conditions and are \u201ca blueprint\u201d for a nationwide programme of NHS-provided exercise.<\/p>\n
The NHS should \u201cinclude structured exercise programmes in best practice guidance\u201d and encourage hospitals and GP practices to refer eligible patients to them, the analysis said.<\/p>\n
However, the chief executive of the charity Versus Arthritis, Deborah Alsina, said that while exercise improved quality of life for people with the condition, it was not the \u201csolve-all\u201d the analysis suggests; they could have trouble fitting exercise into their lives and often experienced \u201cchallenges in accessing effective treatment and support from the NHS, long delays to secure a diagnosis and lack of treatment options\u201d, she said.<\/p>\n
A six-week pain reduction programme of education, exercise and self-management run by some NHS trusts in England, called Escape Pain, which 15,000 people have used, has been found to improve quality of life for people with arthritis and also save the NHS time and money.<\/p>\n
A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said: \u201cWe know that living with chronic pain can have a significant impact on quality of life. We will transform the NHS by shifting care from sickness to prevention to keep people healthy and independent for longer through our 10-year health plan.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe will also harness the power of technology which can help keep people active. This includes ensuring all patients with chronic pain have access to wearable technology as part of their care, especially in areas of deprivation.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"People with sore joints who exercise for two hours a week have less pain, visit their GP less…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":191698,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[49,48,407,84],"class_list":{"0":"post-191697","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-fitness","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-fitness","11":"tag-health"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/191697","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=191697"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/191697\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/191698"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=191697"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=191697"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=191697"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}