Physical Exercise Improves Symptomatic Dermographism

Short-term exercise may reduce disease activity in symptomatic dermographism (SD), but its prevalence and short- and long-term effects remain unclear and understudied. This study aims to assess the impact of both short-term and regular long-term exercise programs on disease activity in patients with SD.

We performed a short-term exercise test to assess the disease activity and the critical friction threshold (CFT) using the FricTest before (SDE1) and 10 min after (SDE2) this test on 34 SD patients. Afterward, we asked the patients to carry on a 1-month regular long-term exercise program according to the World Health Organization's physical activity recommendations. At the end of this 1-month period, we performed the short-term exercise test using the FricTest before (SDE3) and 10 min after (SDE4) the exercise test.

Before a 1-month regular exercise program, 32 of 34 patients (94.1%) showed a reduction in the critical friction threshold after the short-term exercise test (SDE1; 1.95 ± 0.88 vs. SDE2; 0.81 ± 0.86). After a 1-month regular exercise program, 29 of 34 patients (85%) showed a reduction in SD symptoms with short-term exercise test and the FricTest scores were significantly decreased (SDE3; 1.57 ± 0.80 vs. SDE4; 1.01 ± 0.83). After the 1-month regular exercise program, a statistically significant increase was seen in the patients' UCT scores and quality of life.

Our findings show that short-term exercise improves SD symptoms, while long-term regular exercise programs reduce disease symptoms and improve UCT scores and quality of life.