THURSDAY, Sept. 3, 2026 (HealthDay News) — Simple walking tests could be an easy way to assess the well-being of a patient with multiple sclerosis (MS), a new study says.
Better walking performance and higher levels of daily physical activity are linked to better quality of life among people with intermittent forms of MS, researchers report in the October issue of the journal Multiple Sclerosis and Related Disorders.
“These findings reinforce previous research and highlight the potential benefits of maintaining an active lifestyle,” lead author Marko Luostarinen, a doctoral researcher at the University of Eastern Finland, said in a news release.
For the study, researchers recruited 41 people with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis, a form of the disease in which people experience periods of recovery between symptom flare-ups.
Researchers asked the patients to wear devices to track their physical activity and to fill out questionnaires related to their level of disability and quality of life. Participants also took a six-minute walk test, which assessed how far they could walk in that amount of time.
As one would expect, people with MS had a significantly lower quality of life than healthy people, and greater disability was strongly associated with a poorer quality of life, researchers said.
On the other hand, better walking performance and a higher daily step count were linked to better well-being, researchers said.
“The results may help healthcare professionals encourage people with MS to increase their daily activity levels to support better quality of life,” Luostarinen said.
Interestingly, the intensity of a person’s physical activity wasn’t associated with their quality of life. Working up a sweat wasn’t linked to better quality of life.
However, researchers wrote that more studies are needed to clarify whether improvements in a person’s mobility might lead to better quality of life among MS patients.
More information
Johns Hopkins Medicine has more on relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis.
SOURCES: University of Eastern Finland, news release, Sept. 1, 2026; Multiple Sclerosis and Related Disorders, online, Aug. 23, 2026
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