Lipedema is a chronic adipose tissue disorder that primarily affects women. The etiology remains unclear and involves abnormal buildup of fat mainly in the lower limbs. It causes physical and psychological morbidity, often with negative impact on daily life. Effective treatment options are still limited, primarily involving conservative treatment such as compression therapy and pain reliever. As endurance training is shown to have beneficial effects on both pain and obesity management in patients suffering of other disorders, LipidEx aims to explore the potential of high-intensity interval training (HIIT) as a novel therapeutic option for women with lipedema. We will perform a cross-over randomized controlled trial (RCT) exploring the effects of 12 weeks of HIIT compared to a control period of usual care. The primary outcome is changes in pain, and secondary outcomes are changes in adipose tissue mass and quality of life.

The authors have declared no competing interest.

NCT06558851

The study will be supported by grants from the DAM Foundation Joint Research Committee between St. Olavs hospital and the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, NTNU (FFU). The funders have/had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish or preparation of the manuscript.

I confirm all relevant ethical guidelines have been followed, and any necessary IRB and/or ethics committee approvals have been obtained.

Yes

The details of the IRB/oversight body that provided approval or exemption for the research described are given below:

This is a protocol paper for Registered Report, and not a full manuscript. The Regional Ethics committee (REK) of Norway have given ethical approval to preform the LipidEx-study.

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Yes

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Yes

All data produced will be available online.