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"Exercising makes an infection go deeper into the tissues and makes you sicker" - is this true?

Dolphin

Senior Member
Messages
17,567
Somebody sent me the following:
"[A doctor told her mum before] exercising with any infection makes it go deeper into the tissues and makes you sicker."

Anyone ever hear that before? Is there any evidence for it? If this was widely accepted or there was evidence for it, it could be very useful to quote.
 

alex3619

Senior Member
Messages
13,810
Location
Logan, Queensland, Australia
I don't know that this is accurate. However if the infection is focal due to a cut or tear then it might further tear and leave more damaged tissue to be infected. Also if the infection is serious then the energy is better spent fighting the infection. There are reasons why our immune system makes us feel like lying down and taking it easy during severe infections. If the exercise intensity is great enough then the cytokines etc. may respond in a way that weakens immunity temporarily.

Of course my explanation is based on otherwise healthy people ... its hard to figure out what this means for people with ME or CFS.

Generally speaking doctors often advise that if the infection is not serious, and you don't have a fever, then exercise is probably safe provided you don't aggravate any injuries. With our immune systems I do not know how this translates.

So far as I am aware much of the research on this comes from fit healthy athletes. I have a cousin who is an expert on this but I have not talked to her in nearly two decades.
 

Enid

Senior Member
Messages
3,309
Location
UK
Yes I think this probably is true. In my early days though not well I went (with docs sort of agreement) to an Osteopath to try and loosen "frozen" muscles and walked (exercised) more. It felt reasonably good for a while with all the manipulation and then a sudden crash even worse than the situation before. Back to bed and very ill with all the well known ME symptoms. My Osteopath declined to treat further.

It crossed my mind that this was precisely what was happening.