Background: Multiple sclerosis is a chronic disease of the central nervous system which leads to myelin destruction. The aim of this study was to examine the effect of aerobic training on functional capacity and percent body fat in women with moderate multiple sclerosis.

Materials and Methods: In this clinical trial, 15 women with multiple sclerosis (aged 33.68±8.22 years) with EDSS<4 were randomly divided into experimental (n=8) and control (n=7) groups. An aerobic program prolonged for 8 weeks, 3 days/week, 20-40 minutes/day, with 60-80% of HRmax was run in the experimental group. Some functional capacities, such as speed running, walking endurance, balance, and VO2 Max, as well as BF% were measured before and after the training program in both groups.

Results: The results showed that aerobic training led to significant increases in walking endurance, walking speed, balance, and VO2max (p<0.001). These indices, however, decreased significantly in the control group (p<0.05). Additionally, after the training program, percent body fat decreased significantly in the experimental group (p=0.005), but it increased significantly in control group (p=0.002).

Conclusion: Considering the findings of this study, it can be stated that aerobic training can improve functional capacity and decrease percent body fat in multiple sclerosis patients