Vascular Mechanisms, Functional Outcomes, & Exercise Among Persons With Multiple Sclerosis With Hypertension

Summary

The goal of this study is to determine if 12 weeks of cycling exercise training at home will improve three parameters: 1) blood pressure, 2) cognition, and 3) walking ability among persons with multiple sclerosis who have high blood pressure, when compared to a group that engages in a 12-week home-based stretching program.

The main questions this study aims to answer are:

1. Can home-based cycling exercise training improve blood pressure by increasing blood vessel dilation in people with multiple sclerosis?
2. Can cycling exercise training improve cognition and walking mobility in people with multiple sclerosis by improving blood pressure?

The investigators will compare home-based cycling training to stretching to see if cycling training improves cognition, walking mobility, blood pressure, and fitness in people with multiple sclerosis.

Participation in this study will take 13-14 weeks, with participants being randomized (like flipping a coin, a 50-50 chance of being in either group) to the home-based cycling training or the stretching group.

All participants will be asked to

* Visit the laboratory two times, one before the beginning of the intervention (home-base training and stretching group) and one at the end of the intervention.
* During visits, participants will complete tests related to cognition, walking mobility, blood pressure and fitness.

Conditions

• Multiple Sclerosis
• Hypertension

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

Home-based aerobic training

The aerobic training will focus on large, dynamic movements of the lower extremities using leg cycling ergometry on an upright cycle ergometer installed in the participant's homes and will progress in duration (10-40 minutes) and intensity (50-70% VO2 peak) over the 3-month intervention period. All participants will start exercise at 50% of VO2peak for 10-min as determined by the exercise test, for the first week, to individualize the exercise prescription. Progression will initially target duration with weekly progressions of 5 min to 30 min of exercise, followed by progression of intensity by 5% per week until 70% is attained, based on patient tolerance of the increased work.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• University of Illinois at Chicago

  collaborator OTHER

• University of Alabama at Birmingham

  collaborator OTHER

• University of Massachusetts, Boston

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Bo Fernhall, PhD · University of Massachusetts, Boston

• Tracy Baynard, PhD · University of Massachusetts, Boston

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

TREATMENT

Masking

NONE

Model

PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age

18 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

No

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2025-04-15

Primary Completion

2027-08-31

Completion

2027-08-31

Countries

• United States

Study Locations