The National MS Society supports the overall health of people with MS at all levels of ability. We encourage health-promoting behaviors that will enhance physical fitness, increase quality of life, and potentially have a positive impact on the MS disease process and symptoms. This course is a resource for fitness and wellness professionals, including personal trainers, group fitness instructors, yoga teachers, aquatics instructors and other professionals who want to learn more about MS. It provides an overview of the disease and offers specific strategies for working with a diverse MS population.
This training was developed to reflect the National MS Society's paper,
Exercise and lifestyle physical activity recommendations for people with multiple sclerosis throughout the disease course (Multiple Sclerosis Journal, 2020). We encourage you to review this paper prior to the training as it is referenced throughout.
If you have questions about this training, please email our healthcare professional inbox at
healthprof_info@nmss.org.
Providing safe, effective and enjoyable exercise and lifestyle physical activity instruction to support the wellbeing of people living with MS starts with understanding the needs and special considerations of MS.
After completion of this course, participants will be able to:
- describe basic facts about MS;
- understand wellness, exercise and lifestyle physical activity in MS;
- identify MS symptoms that affect movement and levels of ability;
- consider ways to modify movement, exercise and exercise classes to accommodate the functional issues and concerns presented by a person with MS;
- interact more comfortably with people with disabilities;
- describe barriers and facilitators to exercise and lifestyle physical activity in people with MS.