Sticking plaster exercises your legs without you having to move!

PeoPle with heart failure may soon be able to exercise without actually having to move — by applying stick-on devices to their legs that effectively give their muscles a workout.

the effect is similar to physical exercise, according to a recent study published in the european Journal of Preventive Cardiology.

Around 900,000 people in the UK have heart failure, where weakened heart muscle is unable to deliver enough oxygen to the tissues. it tends to affect older people and can occur as a result of numerous conditions, such as high blood pressure or a heart attack, which makes the heart’s pumping action weaker.

Heart failure causes symptoms such as severe tiredness, shortness of breath and chest pain. there is no cure — most treatments are aimed at trying to control symptoms or slowing the condition’s progression.

exercise is important, as it can help reduce symptoms, but patients can find it tiring because their heart is not strong enough to pump sufficient blood to their muscles.

THE new approach — which scientists call functional electrical stimulation — uses lowenergy electrical pulses to trigger muscles to move.

it consists of small fabric patches that contain electrodes, which are attached to the skin around the muscles of the upper and lower legs. the electrodes are connected to a small, batterypowered generator.

in a recent trial, researchers at the Catharina Hospital in the netherlands and Attikon University Hospital in Greece monitored 120 patients with heart failure. they found that those who used the patches daily were 60 per cent less likely to have needed hospital treatment during the one-year follow-up period, compared to those using a placebo device.

exactly how this kind of electrical stimulation works is unclear, but one theory is that it triggers muscle contractions similar to those seen as a result of physical exercise. it may also improve blood flow.

‘Physical exercise has beneficial effects on the workings of the blood vessels in these patients and leads to a relative risk reduction of 23 per cent for death or hospitalisation,’ says Dr Punit ramrakha, a consultant cardiologist at the Hammersmith Hospital in london.

‘ However, compliance with fitness training programmes is unsatisfactory, due to limitations resulting from the advanced heart failure or coexisting conditions. ‘functional electrical stimulation of leg muscles offers an alternative and represents an attractive option for heart failure patients who are unable or unwilling to exercise.’

He adds: ‘there is now good evidence that this type of treatment improves wellbeing and clinical measures, which, in turn, translate to a significant reduction in hospitalisation.

‘this new study should prompt heart failure teams across the country to review the provision of such treatments.’

MeAnWHile, a single jab of stem cells is being used to treat patients with heart failure. Doctors are harvesting stem cells from patients and then injecting them back into their coronary arteries to ‘rejuvenate’ them.

the researchers, at the royan institute in tehran, believe the stem cells will help to do that: in an 18-month study with 60 patients, half will have the treatment and the others will have a dummy jab.