Community Exercise for persons with multiple sclerosis

A home-based exercise programme will be delivered to persons with MS for up to 5 months as part of a randomised controlled study. This will be supervised by a physiotherapist or a supervised exercise physiologist student. The exercise programme will be incrementally progressed over the first four months of the program to maximise participant success and adherence The program will include 30 minute sessions of moderate-intensity aerobic walking and sessions approximately 30 minutes long of moderate-intensity resistance training per week. Please refer to Step 5 Eligibility, participants who respond yes to eligibility criteria (f) non-exercisers will follow the General aerobic activity and strength training plan which is 2 sessions of aerobic exercise and 2 sessions of resistance exercise per week. Participants who respond yes to eligibility criteria (g) aerobic exercisers will follow the Advanced aerobic activity and strength training plan which is 5 sessions of aerobic exercise and two sessions of resistance exercise per week. Resistance exercises will target the lower body, upper body and core muscle groups, and example exercise are Chair Raises, and Shoulder Rows. The incrementally progression of aerobic exercise will follow a general planned pattern; beginning with 10 min walking with the addition of 5 minutes every 2 weeks. The incrementally progression of resistance exercise will follow a general planned pattern; beginning with 1 set, 10 repetitions of 5 exercise with increases of repetitions, then sets, and then number of exercises every 2 weeks. Participants who choose to increase exercise above this amount will not be discouraged but will be asked to note this in their exercise diaries. Participants will rate intensity using a Borg RPE scale. Participants will complete exercise journal/diaries to promote adherence. Participants will receive text messages to encourage exercise, and telephone/video calls to encourage participation amd modify technique. This addition will be for participants who on entering the study already engage in structured aerobic exercise on 2 or more occasions per week (and this information will be established on recruitment on the screening questionnaire)