BACKGROUND: Interleukin-6 (IL-6) is a typical pleiotropic cytokine which has been shown to elevate in case of multiple sclerosis. With regards to the indirect anti-inflammatory effects of exercise, the present study aims at investigating the effects of massage and aqua training on IL-6 levels of MS patients. METHODS: Thirty MS patients (age: 33.4±6.2, 62.9±10.4 kg, EDSS 2-4) voluntarily took part in this quasi-experimental study. They were randomly assigned to one of the following groups: massage (N.=10, received massage), aquatic exercise (N.=10, exercised in water) and compound group (N.=10, received massage followed by exercised in water). The study lasted 8 weeks and the participants of all the groups had 3, 30-min sessions/w. Dependent t-test and one way ANOVA were applied for Data analysis. RESULTS: Our showed that IL-6 levels did not change significantly following massage (P=0.72), aqua training (P=0.57) and compound intervention (P=0.07). CONCLUSIONS: Our findings did not show any significant increase in IL-6 concentrations in any of the training groups (i.e. aquatic exercise, massage, and compound) (P<0.05). Therefore we may propose that aqua training and massage are two beneficial training protocols that MS patients may take advantage of, without the possibility of worsening the inflammatory state of their disease.

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