Two articles published this week highlight how attitudes relating to exercise and HCM have changed in recent years.  Older recommendations that HCM patients should refrain from exercise appear to be outdated.

The first article, an editorial published in Circulation by Drs. Sara Saberi and Sharlene Day from the University of Michigan’s HCM Center, reviews the statistics relating to sudden death of athletes and questions the long held notion that participation in vigorous activity or competitive sports is dangerous in HCM.  This editorial also points out that moderate exercise is the only non-surgical intervention proven to increase exercise capacity in patients with HCM.

See this HCMBeat interview with Drs. Saberi and Day for more details about their groundbreaking study.

A second article from researchers in Australia used the number of a patient’s steps per day as an indicator of HCM disease severity and the patient’s functional limitations.

It seems that the time has come for HCM patients to get up off their couches and get moving!