Impact of Physical Exercise on Quality of Life in Patients With Inflammatory Bowel Disease - a Pilot Study.

Impact of Physical Exercise on Quality of Life in Patients With Inflammatory Bowel Disease - a Pilot Study.

Patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) suffer from a diminished quality of life compared to healthy adults. This is due to the chronic course of disease accompanied with diarrhea, stomach pains but also with psychological stress.

It is known that physical education may improve course of disease and quality of life in a multitude of diseases. These include coronary heart disease, malignancies and also depression. The investigators believe that sport is as effective supportive tool in improving quality of life in IBD patients. But data is lacking with regard to controlled randomized clinical trials. Because of the small amount of data available the investigators considered a feasibility study. Our hypothesis is that IBD patients will cope with moderate exercise. The investigators further suspect that these patients improve their quality of life compared with patients in the control group.

Inclusion Criteria:

• >18 years
• proven colitis ulcerosa (CU)
• proven crohns disease (CD)
• diagnosis >= 1 year before start of the study
• low or moderate disease activity

Exclusion Criteria:

• < 18 years
• high disease activity
• regular exercise > 2 hours per week
• diagnosis of CU oder CD < 1 year before start of the study