Last Updated on: 22nd November 2023, 05:16 pm
This MS Awareness Week (24th-30th April 2023), the MS Society and Bike the UK for MS are raising awareness of the potential benefits of exercise for those living with the condition.
Studies have shown that exercise can help relieve common symptoms of MS such as fatigue, difficulty walking and pain, as well as reduce the likelihood of relapses and slow the progression of the condition after early diagnosis.
Rosie Pickering, a 43-year-old mum and business owner from Nottinghamshire who was diagnosed with MS in 2009, has been sharing her experience of how exercise has helped her quality of life with the condition. She said: “Since being diagnosed, I have gone through a full spectrum of having my first ‘full-on’ relapse and not being able to walk for a few months to my current state of living well and doing long bike rides.”
Pickering has completed bike rides such as John O’ Groats to Land’s End and the North Coast 500 with Bike the UK for MS and is currently planning further events to fundraise for the charity.
The MS Society and Bike the UK for MS are encouraging people to take part in fundraising activities to support research into the potential of exercise as a disease-modifying treatment.
Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a chronic, painful and disabling condition that affects over 130,000 people in the UK, damaging the nerves in their body and making it harder to do everyday things. The MS Society’s Stop MS Appeal needs to raise £100 million to find treatments for everyone with MS.
For more information about MS, the MS Society or Bike the UK for MS, or to donate, please visit www.mssociety.org.uk and biketheukforms.org.
