Effects of applying hydrotherapy on fatigue in multiple sclerosis patients

Background and Fatigue is a common symptom of Multiple Sclerosis (MS) that is purported to cause significant distress and have detrimental effects on daily living functioning, social and occupational obligations, and overall well-being. Complementary therapies are widely used by people with MS and Progressive Hydrotherapy is a form of complementary therapies. The aim of this study is to assess the effects of applying Hydrotherapy on fatigue of Multiple Sclerosis patients. This is a Quasi-experimental study. 50 Multiple Sclerosis patients were selected with convenient sampling according to specific criteria then assigned to experimental and control groups (25 patients in each group) with random allocation. Data collector tools included: demographic questionnaire, Fatigue Severity Scale (FSS), Self report checklists. Hydrotherapy performed for 24 sessions by experimental group during three months but no intervention was done for control group. Statistical analysis was done by SPSS software. There was no significant difference between two groups in mean scores of fatigue before the study but this test showed different significance between two groups, 4, 8 and 12 weeks after intervention (P<0.05). ANOVA test with repeated measurements showed that there is a significant difference in mean score of fatigue between two groups in 4 times (P<0.05). The results of this study show that Hydrotherapy is practically feasible and could decrease fatigue of MS patients so that applying this technique offered to these patients.