Hospitalized anorexic patients who take part in a light resistance training program experience increases in knee and elbow strength, South African investigators report in the International Journal of Sports Medicine.

“The treatment of anorexia nervosa involves both medical and psychological intervention,” Dr. Ingrid Chantler and colleagues from the University of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, write.

Exercise has been suggested as an effective addition to therapy, they note.

To avoid a large loss in calories and to increase lean mass, resistance training is preferable to aerobic exercise.

The researchers evaluated seven hospitalized anorexic patients who completed a light resistance-training program, seven hospitalized anorexics who did not participate in the program, and seven non-anorexic exercisers.

All of the subjects were females in their early 20s. The average duration of anorexia was 6 years in the exercisers and 4 years in the control group. Participants performed the exercises for 1 hour twice a week for 8 weeks. Strength tests were conducted at the beginning and the end of the study.

Several measures of weight significantly improved among the anorexics who completed the resistance training program, including body mass index, percent body fat and lean body mass.

The anorexic exercisers also significantly increased strength in the muscles of their arms and legs after completing the program, but no significant increases were observed in the anorexics who did not exercise or in the non-anorexics who also completed the exercise program.

Improvements in muscular strength in these patients can increase levels of planned or spontaneous physical activity, and “improve the ability to carry out activities of daily living,” Chantler and colleagues comment. “In doing so, strength training can contribute to an improvement in the overall health and well-being of anorexic patients.”

SOURCE: International Journal of Sports Medicine, August 2006.