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. 2025 Jun;70(6):2097-2104.
doi: 10.1007/s10620-025-09030-x. Epub 2025 Apr 17.

Evaluation of an Exercise Program in Patients with Inflammatory Bowel Disease: A Pilot Study

Natasja van de Pol  1 , Elyke H Visser  1   2 , Desirée van Noord  2 , C Janneke van der Woude  1   3 , Annemarie C de Vries  1 , Vincent de Jonge  4 , Rachel L West  5
Affiliations

Evaluation of an Exercise Program in Patients with Inflammatory Bowel Disease: A Pilot Study

Natasja van de Pol et al. Dig Dis Sci. 2025 Jun.

Abstract

Purpose: Patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) tend to be less physical active, while maintaining an active lifestyle has been associated with enhanced disease control, diminished fatigue, and improved quality of life. This study aimed to evaluate the feasibility and potential impact of an exercise program for patients with IBD.

Methods: Patients with IBD participated in a 16-week personalized exercise program based on their individual fitness level. Outcome measures included body composition (BMI, muscle mass and fat percentage), physical fitness (based on the Fundamental Motor Skills), quality of life, fatigue, and disease control. For statistical analyses, a paired t test or Wilcoxon signed rank test was used.

Results: In total 32 patients were included, mean age was 50.1 years (SD 12.3), 37.5% were male, and 50% had Crohn's disease. The program was completed by 75% of patients, and average rating of the program was 8.6 out of 10. The program significantly improved fatigue scores (P = 0.013). Quality of life scores improved by an average of 8 points, and disease control showed no significant difference. Additionally, muscle mass (P = 0.020), fat percentage (P = 0.003), lower body strength and coordination (P = 0.006), flexibility (P = 0.002), and speed and endurance (P < 0.001) improved significantly after the program.

Conclusion: This pilot study showed that a personalized exercise program could be feasible for patients with IBD and has the potential to have a positive effect on quality of life and fatigue. These findings underline the importance of physical activity and can be used as a step toward integrating an exercise program in standard IBD care.

Keywords: Exercise program; Fatigue; Inflammatory bowel disease; Physical activity; Quality of life.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declarations. Conflict of interest: DvN has served on advisory boards for Janssen, Takeda, Abbvie, Galapagos, and Lilly; CJW received grants from ZonMW, Falk, and Pfizer, has received consulting fees from Janssen, Galapagos, and Pfizer, has received payment or honoraria for lectures, presentations, speakers bureaus, manuscript writing, or educational events from Ferring and AbbVie, and had leadership roles in the European Crohn’s & Colitis organization and United European Gastroenterology council and the Dutch Association for Gastroenterology (NVGE); ACV has served on advisory boards for Takeda, Janssen, Bristol Myers Squibb, Abbvie, Pfizer, and Galapagos and has received unrestricted research grants from Takeda, Janssen, and Pfizer; RLW has received payment or honoraria for lectures, presentations, speakers bureaus, manuscript writing or educational events from Ferring, Pfizer, Galapagos, AbbVie, and Janssen; all other authors declare that they have no conflict of interest. Ethical approval: This study was approved by the Institutional Review Board (IRB) of the Erasmus University Medical Center, MEC-2022-0737.

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