FUNCTIONAL BENEFITS OF PHYSICAL THERAPY FOR PATIENTS IN HEMODIALYSIS

Abstract

Introduction: The population of patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD) keeps rising every year, as well as the number of patients in renal replacement therapy: hemodialysis (HD). Cardio and resistance physical activity programs (moderate to low intensity) have been utilized in the interdialytic period and also during hemodialysis. Objective: Identify the benefits of those exercises (cardio, resistance exercises and also a combination of both) in the patients with CKD in dialysis. Methods: Pre-reviewed of original articles and literature reviews about the subject, from databases such as Scielo, Bireme, Lilacs, Pubmed and Medline. Publishing dates of those articles and reviews date from 2004 to 2013. Results and Discussion: A total of thirteen articles were analyzed, all of which discuss the practice and benefits of physical exercises in CKD patients. Conclusion: Many benefits were linked to the therapeutical physical exercises in CKD patients in hemodialysis. In that sense, physical therapy contributes significantly in the prevention, in slowing the progress and overall improvement of complications commonly associated with CKD patients.