The role of exercise in the treatment of HIV-1 and AIDS

As the epidemic of AIDS continues to spread worldwide, patients, researchers, and health care practitioners have persisted in the search for beneficial treatment strategies to combat the primary complications associated with the disease. The purpose of the present study was to examine the role of regular exercise participation in the treatment of HIV-1 and AIDS. Specifically, this study investigated the effects of a 12-week exercise intervention on psychological/emotional, immunological, and physiological training variables. The subjects for this study (N = 33) were randomly assigned to one of three treatment conditions: (1) aerobic exercise training, (2) resistance weight training, or (3) stretching/flexibility control. Subjects were assessed on a variety of measures before, during, and following completion of the intervention. It was hypothesized that the exercise groups would demonstrate the greatest improvements in the variables of interest over the course of the program while control subjects would experience declines. The results indicated that both aerobic and weight training exercise interventions enhanced psychological and emotional well-being, cardiovascular fitness, muscular strength, body composition, and immune function in an HIV-1-infected subject sample. Specifically, exercise subjects demonstrated improvements in physical self-efficacy, exercise-induced affective responses and feelings of fatigue, positive and negative mood, and satisfaction with life. Conversely, control subjects exhibited further regressions in each of these variables. This same pattern of findings was extended to assessments of the immune system, muscular strength, lean body mass, and steady-state exercise heart rate. The findings concerning psychological/emotional health were interpreted and discussed within the social cognitive (Bandura, 1986) and subjective well-being (Andrews & Withey, 1976) frameworks. It was suggested that exercise may be one therapeutic modality capable of enhancing all three primary complications associated with HIV-1 infection. Finally, it was pointed out that no negative effects of exercise were noted and that regular participation in both aerobic and weight training exercise should be considered a viable form of complimentary therapy for treating individuals suffering from HIV-1 and AIDS.U of I OnlyETDs are only available to UIUC Users without author permissio