Dr Christa Janse van Rensburg - Head of the Section Sports Medicine at the University of Pretoria - obtained her MD on 7 September 2012.

Title of her Script is “The effect of exercise and training on the autonomic function, disease activity and functional capacity in females suffering from Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA)”

RA is a chronic disease and one of the more common auto-immune diseases.  It generally occurs more amongst females than males.  Patients with RA rely almost solely on pharmaceutical intervention to manage the disease.

This study firstly compared the autonomic function of RA females to that of healthy females, whereupon the emphasis shifted to the effect of exercise intervention aspects on the following three aspects relating to the effects of RA:

·          - Autonomic function (as measured by heart rate variability)

·         - Disease activity (as measured by Disease Activity Score, Visual Scale and Health Activity Questionnaire)

·         After a 3 month period it was found that exposing Rheumatoid Arthritis patients to exercise had a meaningful effect on their autonomic function, disease activity and functional capacity.
 

Congratulations Dr. Christa!