New research at UB will investigate if cooling the body before or during exercise allows persons with MS to exercise longer, and which method is most effective. The study also will determine the effects of a 12-week aerobic exercise program on fitness, core and skin temperature, and heat flux in MS patients.

The study is funded by a $449,999 grant from the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research, U.S. Dept. of Education.

"Exercise is good for MS, but it must be done correctly," said lead investigator Nadine Fisher, Ed.D., clinical associate professor of rehabilitation science in the UB School of Public Health and Health Professions. Carl Granger, Ph.D., UB professor of rehabilitation science, is co-investigator.

"Exercise can build up strength and endurance, reduce depression and increase endorphins, the chemicals in the brain responsible for positive moods," she said. "We are trying to find out how to reduce the exercise limitations MS places on people."

The study will involve 60 persons with MS and will be conducted in two phases. During the first phase, which will comprise four weeks, each participant will exercise under a different cooling condition each week to determine how different cooling methods affect exercise performance and core body temperature.

The conditions are no cooling; cooling before exercise by wearing a specially designed, temperature-controlled cooling vest; cooling during exercise while wearing the vest, and cooling using a method of their choosing other than the vest.

Before each condition, participants will swallow a "temperature pill," a plastic, vitamin-pill-sized sensor developed by NASA that transmits temperature readings to a
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Contact: Lois Baker
ljbaker@buffalo.edu
716-645-5000 x1417
University at Buffalo
2-Nov-2005