The effect of aquatic aerobic training on quality of work life in multiple sclerosis (MS) patients

Multiple Sclerosis or MS is a chronic disease debilitating nervous system and damaging the myelin of central system nerves (brain and spinal cord). The most common symptoms of this disease are fatigue, muscle cramps and vibration, diplopia, and unsteadiness and disorder in walking. The present study investigated the effects of a training program for 8 weeks in water to improve quality of work life of MS patients. The type of research is applied and the research methodology is semi-experimental, so out of 110 female MS patients, 54 were selected as sample of patients with disease intensity of grade 1 to 5, and means disease duration of 4 +- 1 and age range of 20 to 50 and were randomly divided into experimental group (25) and control groups (20). Training programs for experimental group consisted of 3 sessions per week for 8 weeks with the intensity of 50-60 percent of maximum heart rate. The qualities of lives of patients were measured by FAMS.Version2 questionnaire (before and after exercise). Data analysis was performed by descriptive statistics and correlated t. There was a significantly difference observed between pretest and posttest quality of work life and in the experimental (P = 0.001.) Doing water aerobic exercise significantly improved quality of work life and in the experimental group and improved the mean score of quality of work life in MS patients on the average of 9.28 per cent. Doing selected water aerobic exercise improves the quality of work life and in MS patients. According to these results, the respective experts can use such training as a complementary therapy alongside pharmaceutical treatments for MS patients.