Research

Hormonal

The increase in local muscle Insulin-like Growth Factor 1 (mIGF-1) and IGFBP-3 levels following resistance training provides a mechanistic explanation for muscle hypertrophy in rheumatoid arthritis, suggesting a link to rheumatoid cachexia.

This finding suggests that the muscle-building response in RA patients is driven by local growth factors (IGF-1) rather than just mechanical stress alone. It implies that treating the underlying hormonal deficiency (rheumatoid cachexia) might be key to restoring muscle.

GoodSupportsMEDIUM confidence
Coinciding with muscle hypertrophy, previously diminished muscle levels of IGF-1 and IGF binding protein 3 both increased following PRT (P < 0.05).
Andrew Lemmey et al. · Arthritis Care & Research · 2009

Why this rating

Mechanistic data from a subset of the RCT (n=9 PRT, n=5 control) with large effect sizes but small sample size.

Source

Effects of high‐intensity resistance training in patients with rheumatoid arthritis: A randomized controlled trial

Andrew Lemmey et al. · Arthritis Care & Research · 2009

DOI 10.1002/art.24891

rct · n=28Cited 248×
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DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10

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