Both exercise training and treatment with dopamine agonists (DA) have been used with success for the amelioration of uremic restless legs syndrome (RLS) symptoms. However, no data are available combining those two approaches. The aim of the current randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study was to investigate the effects of a 6 month intradialytic exercise training in combination with a low dose of DA in patients suffering from uremic RLS symptoms. Fourteen stable patients with RLS on hemodialysis were randomly assigned to the exercise training plus DA group and the exercise training plus placebo group. Both combinations were found to equally reduce uremic RLS symptoms by approximately 60%. The combination of low dose of DA with aerobic exercise training could be considered an alternative approach to high DA dosage regimes in reducing RLS symptoms' severity.
Trial registration: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT00942253.