Highlights
- •Depression is around 25 – 50% in people with MS.
- •Therapeutic exercise reduces depressive symptoms.
- •Robotic gait training and aerobic exercise are highly recommend.
Abstract
Background
The prevalence of depressive symptoms in people with Multiple Sclerosis (MS) is around
25 – 50% and affects their daily life and general quality of life. Several studies
investigating therapeutic exercise have shown highly beneficial effects in preventing
or reducing depressive symptoms. The present systematic review was conducted to investigate
randomized controlled trials on the effectiveness of therapeutic exercise programs
on depressive symptoms in people with MS.
Methods
A search was performed in PubMed, Scopus, APA Psychnet and ResearchGate. The keywords
used were: therapeutic exercise, physiotherapy, physiotherapy, physical therapy, rehabilitation,
depression, depressive disorders and multiple sclerosis. In addition, specific inclusion and exclusion criteria were set and the study selection
process was conducted by two separate reviewers. The quality of the final studies
included in the systematic review was assessed using the PEDro scale.
Results
Out of the total of 934 studies initially identified, 9 studies were finally included.
The results showed that physiotherapy interventions, through aerobic exercise, robotic-assisted
gait training with or without virtual reality, aerobic exercise combined with Pilates,
interval training, video-games and finally clinical Pilates, improve patients' depression
and in many cases with much better results compared to classic physiotherapy type
interventions.
Conclusion
The effect of therapeutic exercise has a positive impact on the depressive symptoms
of people with MS. However, future research in this field is necessary to find the
most proven curative forms to reduce depressive symptoms and improve the daily life
of these patients.
Keywords
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: November 08, 2022
Accepted:
November 7,
2022
Received in revised form:
November 1,
2022
Received:
October 4,
2022
Identification
Copyright
© 2022 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
