Moderate-Intensity Exercise OK for Statin Users with Muscle Pain

By Jonathan Springston, Editor, Relias Media

Patients who report muscle pain and weakness from taking statins to lower their bad cholesterol levels will not experience worse pain from moderate-intensity exercise, according to the authors of a recently published paper.

Statins have become the standard medication to lower low-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels, but some patients report feeling muscle pain and weakness, which can make them reluctant to take this vital treatment. Researchers in the Netherlands wondered if moderate-intensity exercise, such as walking, could exacerbate statin-related muscle pain.

Investigators studied three small groups: symptomatic statin users (n = 35; age 62 ± 7 years), asymptomatic statin users (n = 34; age 66 ± 7 years), and controls (n = 31; age 66 ± 5 years). All statin users had been taking the medication for at least three months. People with diabetes, hypo- or hyperthyroidism, hereditary skeletal muscle defects, other diseases known to cause muscle symptoms, or those using coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10) supplementation were excluded. At baseline, there were no differences in body mass index, physical activity levels, vitamin D3 levels, or waist circumference.

All subjects were allowed to walk 30 km, 40 km, or 50 km per day for four consecutive days, each time at a pace of their choosing. At baseline, researchers measured levels of leukocyte CoQ10, which can cause mitochondrial dysfunction. At baseline and after exercise, the authors assessed muscle symptoms and performance, along with associated injury markers (e.g., lactate dehydrogenase, creatine kinase, myoglobin, cardiac troponin I, and N-terminal pro-brain natriuretic peptide).

“Even though muscle pain and fatigue scores were higher in symptomatic statin users at baseline, the increase in muscle symptoms after exercise was similar among the groups,” said Neeltje Allard, MD, study author and researcher at the department of integrative physiology, Radboud University Medical Center in Nijmegen, Netherlands. “These results demonstrate that prolonged moderate-intensity exercise is safe for statin users and can be performed by statin users to maintain a physically active lifestyle and to derive its cardiovascular health benefits.”

For more on this and related subjects, be sure to read the latest issues of Clinical Cardiology Alert, Integrative Medicine Alert, and Internal Medicine Alert.