Call for heart patients to be given exercise to improve leg muscles

Patients with heart failure suffer from breathlessness and fatigue which severely limit normal daily activities.

Now experts from Leeds University have for the first time shown that problems with leg muscles are related to the severity of other symptoms.

The findings suggest that daily activity in patients with severe heart failure may not only be limited by the failing heart, but also by problems in the leg muscles themselves.

In a series of experiments, researchers measured responses of the heart, lungs and leg muscles following a moderate exercise warm-up.

They found that warm-up exercise increased the activity of muscle enzymes that control energy production.

But there was less change in patients with the most severe symptoms, showing that heart problems affected the normal function of the leg muscles.

Harry Rossiter, of the university’s faculty of biological sciences, said: “Our main message is that exercise is safe and beneficial in patients with heart failure.

“Many chronic heart failure patients complain of leg fatigue during exercise and this can prevent them from being active.

“By warming up the leg muscles properly, the exercise can be more comfortable and sustained for longer – affording great benefits for these patients.”

Cardiologist Klaus Witte, from Leeds General Infirmary, who was on the research team, said: “When your muscles don’t use oxygen well, it causes an uncomfortable burning sensation during activity.

“The effect of a warm up is to direct oxygen to the places that are going to need it and make the muscles ready to use it when you start exercising.”

The team plan to go on to see whether training muscles can improve long-term prospects for patients with chronic heart failure.