Effects of exercise in renal transplant recipients

Abstract

Even after a successful renal transplantation, the renal transplant recipients (RTRs) keeps on suffering the consequences of the uremic sickness. Cardiovascular risk, work capacity, and quality of life do not improve according to expectations since biological and psychological problems are not completely solved by pharmacological treatment. Furthermore, post-transplant treatment, per se, induces additional problems (i.e., side effects of drugs). It becomes, indeed, very important to insert "non-pharmacological" therapies able to reverse this trend. Exercise may represent an important contribution in the solution of this problem. In fact, many studies have demonstrated, in the last two decades, that physical training is able both, to improve graft function, work capacity and quality of life, and to reduce cardiovascular risk. In conclusion, if the analysis of the available data suggests that an appropriate dose of physical training represent a useful, safe and non-pharmacologic contribution to RTR treatment, it becomes a kidney transplantologist responsibility to introduce exercise in the current therapy of RTRs.