Changes in quality of life and fatigue in women with multiple sclerosis after 8 weeks of aquatic exercise training

The aim of this study was to assess the effects of a 8-week aquatic exercise training in quality of life and fatigue in women with multiple sclerosis in Isfahan city, central part of Iran. In this semi-experimental study, 21 women with clinically-definite relapsing-remittent multiple sclerosis who were registered through the Isfahan multiple sclerosis society in 2009, were selected target oriented and randomly assigned to experimental (10 patients) or control (11 patients) groups. The experimental group participated in a 8-week supervised aquatic exercise program (with intensity of 50-85% of maximal heart rate reserve, 3 times a week and each session lasting 60 minutes), whereas the control group was instructed to maintain their current lifestyle. Quality of life and fatigue were assessed by using the Persian version of the multiple sclerosis quality of life questionnaires and the modified fatigue impact scale at baseline, after 4 and 8 weeks, respectively. The obtained data were analyzed using analysis of variance with repeated measures. Significant improvements were found in quality of life and all of its subscales (with exception of cognitive and sexual functions) in the experimental group after 8 weeks of experiment (P<0.01) compared to baseline and to the control group. Unlike the control group, the experimental group showed a significant decrease in fatigue scale at 4 and 8 weeks (P<0.01) compared to baseline. Regular aquatic exercise training improves both quality of life and fatigue scales in women with multiple sclerosis.