Effects of Routine Physical Therapy with and without Pilates-based Core Stability Exercises on Gait, Function and Balance in Patients with Multiple Sclerosis

Pilates-based Core Stability Exercises in Multiple Sclerosis

Abstract

Background: In multiple sclerosis, the immune system erroneously assaults and harms the protective myelin and this can cause a variety of symptoms such as muscle weakness, coordination difficulties, vision disturbances and chronic pain. Objective: To determine the effects of routine physical therapy with and without Pilates-based core stability exercises on gait, function and balance in ambulant multiple sclerosis. Methods: A randomized controlled trial was conducted at the Afeera Saleem Physiotherapy Clinic in Gujranwala, Pakistan and completed within nine months, after the approval of the synopsis. The sample size for this study was calculated to be 74 with 37 individuals in each group, using non-probability purposive sampling for the selection of sample. Patients with multiple sclerosis, meeting the McDonald’s criteria, aged 18 years or over, able to walk independently with or without assistive devices such as a walking stick or orthotic brace and both males and females were included. Patients having pathology or recent injury of the lower extremity, lumbar radiculopathy, systematic diseases, congenital deformity or having scores less than 6 on the truncated mental test were excluded. The qualitative data was presented as frequency and percentages. Results: This showed that there was a statistically significant difference in mean ranks between the Pilates group and routine physical therapy group at the post-intervention and follow-up time points (p-value 0.000). The Pilates group had a higher mean rank on the functional reach test measure at these time points compared to the routine physical therapy group at the post-intervention level, the mean ranks at the follow-up level, the mean ranks for the timed up and go test were 20.57 for the Pilates group and 54.43 for routine group, a p-value of 0.000, indicating a statistically significant difference between the two groups mean rank of 22.62 for the Pilates group and a mean rank of 52.38 for the routine physical therapy group (p-value 0.000). Conclusion: The results of this study suggest that the Pilates intervention was effective in improving timed up-and-go tests and expanded disability status scale scores for individuals with multiple sclerosis as compared to the routine physical therapy intervention.