The Leicester Kidney Lifestyle Team is a vibrant multidisciplinary research group, which aims to help kidney patients achieve the best possible health and wellbeing through appropriate lifestyle management.
Kidney disease can cause complex health problems and reduce a person's ability to enjoy life to the full. Unfortunately, it can also lead to other health conditions, particularly heart disease. People with kidney disease may suffer from a range of troublesome symptoms such as feeling very tired, and they often notice that their muscles waste away and become weak. As with other health conditions, people with kidney disease do better if they understand their disease and how to manage their health themselves, for example: taking their medicines properly, making healthy changes to their lifestyle, and knowing when to seek help from their doctor.
The Leicester Kidney Lifestyle Team was set up in its current form in 2011, as a small team of just 3 researchers. Originally we concentrated on researching the role of exercise to improve the health of kidney patients, and since then we have grown and expanded our research to include other aspects of lifestyle. Our research aims to :
Understand how kidney disease and its symptoms impact the day-to-day lives of people who live with it, and what patients and their families want in the way of help, advice and support
Understand how and why kidney disease affects the heart, the muscles and the overall health and wellbeing of the patients
Understand how aspects of lifestyle management such as physical activity and nutrition can help to prevent or improve these problems
Develop and test ways of delivering effective lifestyle management to kidney patients within the context of the NHS
Through this integrated approach we strive to produce high quality research and to involve patients, carers, healthcare professionals and stake holders as partners to ensure that we meet the needs and expectations of our ultimate user-groups.
