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. 2025 Feb 28;33(3):235.
doi: 10.1007/s00520-025-09287-y.

Feasibility and safety of impact-loading exercise in patients with multiple myeloma-a pilot study

Anne Kollikowski  1 , Marei Schallock  2 , Ruben Ringeisen  2 , Dirk Hasenclever  3 , Lothar Seefried  4 , Jan-Peter Grunz  5 , Damir Zubac  6 , Claudia Löffler  1   2 , Freerk T Baumann  6 , Franziska Jundt  7   8
Affiliations

Feasibility and safety of impact-loading exercise in patients with multiple myeloma-a pilot study

Anne Kollikowski et al. Support Care Cancer. .

Abstract

Purpose: Patients with multiple myeloma (MM) develop osteolytic lesions with fractures, pain, and impaired quality of life. Preclinical data show an anabolic effect of loading exercise in osteolytic lesions of MM. This 6-month pilot study evaluated feasibility and safety of impact-loading exercise in patients with MM after assessment of spinal stability.

Methods: We assigned 20 patients to perform 45 min of guided impact-loading exercise twice a week and home-based training once a week or stretching exercise twice a week. Primary endpoint was assessment of feasibility and safety. Secondary endpoints were assessments of physical performance, quality of life, and bone remineralization.

Results: Of 77 eligible patients with MM, 26% accepted participation. In the impact group, 9/12 and in the stretching group 7/8 patients completed training with adherence rates of 65.8 and 81.1%. Ninety percent of the stamping and jumping exercises were performed with increasing intensity from the prescribed training volume of ≥ 100%. Low severity pain events were reported after 32.9% of impact sessions. No serious adverse events were observed. After 6 months, 6-minute walk distance increased in the impact group by 35 m and in the stretching group by 46 m, and chair-rise test improved in the stretching group by 1.7 s. Global health status increased by 24.9% in the impact group, and functional scale by 31.9% in the stretching group based upon EORTC QLQ-C30. No signs of bone remineralization were observed in computed tomography.

Conclusion: Impact training is feasible and appears to be safe in selected MM patients.

Keywords: Bone turnover marker; Feasibility; Impact-loading exercise; Multiple myeloma (MM); Safety.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declarations. Ethics approval: The study was conducted in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki. The protocol was also approved by the Ethics Committee of the University of Würzburg (No. 31/21-am). Consent to participate: Informed consent was obtained from all participants in the study. Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Flowchart of the study design. *Partially randomized. Two study subjects could not be assigned to the impact group and were switched to the stretching group based on SINS
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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