Background: Strengthening and Stretching for Rheumatoid Arthritis of the Hand (SARAH) exercise program was shown to be an effective approach for improving hand function, reducing pain, and enhancing quality of life [1]. However, evidence regarding the effects of remote SARAH exercise program remains underexplored.

Objectives: To investigate the effectiveness of a 12-week remote video-based SARAH exercise program in individuals with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) with wrist involvement.

Methods: Seventy-three individuals with RA with wrist involvement were included in the study. Wrist joint position sense, wrist joint range of motion, wrist pain, wrist morning stiffness, subjective and objective hand function, grip strength, and disease-related health status were assessed at baseline and after 12 weeks. Following the baseline assessment, participants were randomly assigned into two groups as SARAH Exercise and Control. All participants maintained their pharmacological therapy. SARAH exercise group received SARAH exercise videos via a free messaging platform (WhatsApp Messenger) weekly and performed the program daily for 12 weeks. No additional intervention was provided to the control group.

Results: Forty-nine individuals (SARAH exercise group=28, control group=21) completed the study. Groups were similar at baseline (Table 1). Significant improvements were found in all parameters in the SARAH exercise group (p<0.05), while no statistically significant changes were detected in the control group (p>0.05). When the changes were compared between the groups, SARAH exercise group showed greater improvements regarding the changes in wrist joint position sense, wrist flexion and radial deviation joint range of motion, wrist pain, hand function, grip strength, and disease-related health status compared to the control group (p<0.05, Table 2).

Conclusion: A 12-week remote video-based SARAH exercise program provides additional benefits in individuals with RA who present wrist related problems when added to pharmacological therapy.

REFERENCES: [1] Lamb SE, Williamson EM, Heine PJ, et al. Exercises to improve function of the rheumatoid hand (SARAH): a randomised controlled trial. Lancet. 2015;385(9966):421-429.

Acknowledgements: NIL.

Disclosure of Interests: None declared.

© The Authors 2025. This abstract is an open access article published in Annals of Rheumatic Diseases under the CC BY-NC-ND license ( http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ ). Neither EULAR nor the publisher make any representation as to the accuracy of the content. The authors are solely responsible for the content in their abstract including accuracy of the facts, statements, results, conclusion, citing resources etc.