Stretching Reduces Skin Thickness and Improves Subcutaneous Tissue Mobility in a Murine Model of Systemic Sclerosis

摘要

ObjectiveAlthough physical therapy can help preserve mobility in patients with systemic sclerosis (SSc), stretching has not been used systematically as a treatment to prevent or reverse the disease process. We previously showed in rodent models that stretching promotes the resolution of connective tissue inflammation and reduces new collagen formation after injury. Here, we tested the hypothesis that stretching would impact scleroderma development using a mouse sclerodermatous graft-versus-host disease (sclGvHD) model.