Last Updated: October 3, 2007 (Reuters Health)

Canadian researchers found that for people with mild Crohn's disease, taking a walk a few times per week helped boost their well-being and quality of life.

Crohn's disease is a chronic disorder that causes inflammation throughout the digestive tract. Symptoms, which include diarrhea, abdominal pain and rectal bleeding, tend to flare-up periodically, and then go into periods of remission.

There has been some concern that exercise could exacerbate these problems because of its potential effects on functioning in the digestive tract. However, studies have not shown this to be true.

For the new study, Victor Ng and colleagues at the University of Western Ontario recruited 32 adults with Crohn's disease. All were either in remission or were suffering only mild symptoms.

For three months, half of the study participants walked for 30 minutes, three days per week. The rest maintained their usual lifestyle. At the beginning and end of the study, all patients completed questionnaires on their symptoms, overall well-being and quality of life.

At the end of the trial, the researchers found, the exercise group reported improved symptoms and gave higher ratings to their quality of life. In contrast, symptoms worsened in the comparison group.

The findings are published in the Clinical Journal of Sports Medicine.

"Exercise benefits almost everyone and chronic disease patients are no exception," study co-author Dr. Wanda Millard told Reuters Health.

Though some doctors have been hesitant to recommend exercise for Crohn's disease, light exercise like moderate walking is unlikely to have significant effects on patients' intestinal function, Millard noted.

She pointed out that there are several professional athletes with Crohn's disease.

That being said, however, Millard cautioned that this and other studies of exercise and Crohn's disease have included only patients in remission or with mild symptoms.

"Patients with moderate or severe symptoms of their Crohn's disease should not engage in an exercise program until their symptoms are better controlled," she advised.