Health promotion practices in women with multiple sclerosis: increasing quality and years of healthy life.

Disease-modifying agents that decrease the accumulation of disability are costly, inconvenient to use, and have the potential of significant side effects. The findings presented here suggest that much less costly health-promotion interventions may hold substantial promise as a complementary strategy for decreasing the burden of functional limitations. Additional research is needed to develop and test interventions that rehabilitation professionals can use to enhance physical activity, nutrition, stress management, and other health-promoting behaviors to increase the quality and years of healthy life for women with MS.