Insights on the role of physical activity in patients with rheumatoid arthritis

Patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) are physically inactive, and trials have been undertaken to examine the effect of physical activity on pain, disease activity, functional ability and quality of life (QoL) in RA. The aim of this study was to explore the relationship between physical activity and disease-activity in RA and in healthy controls. Our findings showed that fewer RA patients had a professional occupation compared with controls, but patients and controls were similar with respect to the sedentary extent of their job. Physical exercise was inversely associated with disease activity (DAS-28), stiffness visual analog scale (VAS), patient global VAS and SF-36, but not associated with Health Assessment Questionnaire (HAQ), pain VAS, fatigue VAS, global health and the Arthritis Ipact Measurement Scale (AIMS), suggesting that pain and fatigue are important barriers to physical activity. Our findings suggest that this is more pronounced in RA patients who do not participate in regular physical activity, and so physical exercise should be recommended as part of comprehensive RA care.