Effects of Pilates Exercises in Asthmatic Patients

Summary

Asthma is a chronic respiratory disease with high prevalence worldwide, considered an important cause of morbidity, mortality and high economic costs. Aerobic physical exercise has great merit as non-pharmacological treatment and other exercise modalities have being studied. However, there are few data in the literature about the effects of Pilates method in patients with asthma. The objective of this study is evaluate the effects of a program of exercise using Pilates on health factors related to quality of life in patients with moderate or severe persistent asthma. Patients will be also evaluated about disease control, anxiety and depression symptoms, functional capacity, lung function, respiratory muscle strength, thoracoabdominal mechanics and level of daily life physical activity. The investigators' hypothesis is that strengthening of the deep trunk muscles promotes a mechanical fixation of the thorax, contributing to the clinical improvement of patients with asthma.

Conditions

• Asthma

Interventions

OTHER

Pilates

The Pilates exercises will be performed in 12 weeks with 40-minute sessions, three times a week: 2 at ambulatory and 1 at home. Ambulatory sessions will be supervised by a physical therapist in non-consecutive days. Patients could be grouped in classes with a maximum of 4 subjects. The first two weeks will be spent learning the technique and, in the third week, patients will receive an exercise booklet for in-home training. Will be used the classical solo Pilates exercises, adapted for non-trained individuals. Before and after each session, patients will be evaluated in relation to expiratory peak flow, blood pressure, heart rate and asthma symptoms.

OTHER

Muscle stretching

The muscle stretching exercises will be performed in 12 weeks with 40-minute sessions, three times a week: 2 at ambulatory and 1 at home. Ambulatory sessions will be supervised by a physical therapist in non-consecutive days. Patients could be grouped in classes with a maximum of 4 subjects. Patients will practice muscle stretching exercises for principal muscle groups, performed with 3 repetitions, 15 seconds sustain and 1 minute interval. Before and after each session, the patients will be evaluated in relation to expiratory peak flow, blood pressure, heart rate and asthma symptoms.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• University of Sao Paulo

  collaborator OTHER

• Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo

  collaborator OTHER_GOV

• Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico

  collaborator OTHER_GOV

• University of Sao Paulo General Hospital

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Celso RF Carvalho, PhD · University of Sao Paulo

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

TREATMENT

Masking

SINGLE

Model

PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age

20 Years

Max Age

59 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

No

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2017-08-01

Primary Completion

2018-08-01

Completion

2018-12-14

Countries

• Brazil

Study Locations