Oral / Poster Presentation File
1Assistant professor, Department of physical education and sport science, Amirkabir University of Technology, Tehran, Iran
2Assistant professor, Department of Sports Injury and Corrective Exercises, Faculty of Sport Sciences, Hakim Sabzevari University, Sabzevar, Iran.
3MSc, Raja University
Materials and methods: The present study was a quasi-experimental study with pre-test and post-test. 22 women with multiple sclerosis in age range of 30 to 60 years and with EDSS equal to or less than 4 on the Cortez scale, were randomly assigned to experimental and control groups. Motor performance was assessed by Berg balance test and walking 25 feet in pre-test and post-test. Subjects in the experimental group participated in an 8-week course of resistance exercise and control group did not receive any intervention. Paired t-test and analysis of covariance were used to analyze the data at a significance level of 0.05.
Results: Based on the research findings, resistance training had no significant effect on walking 25 feet (p=0.056), but were observed a positive effect in Berg balance (p=0.001). There was no significant change in the control group during the study period. The difference between experimental and control groups were significant in Berg balance.
Conclusion: Based on the results of the present study, which showed that resistance training can improve motor performance, this type of training is useful for multiple sclerosis. During resistance training protocol, resistance and volume of training increases gradually to obtain full benefits of exercises. Based on the findings of this study, it seems that longer training periods are needed to achieve more efficient results in gait performance in MS patients.
