The Effect of Planned Physical and Mental Exercises on Adequacy of Dialysis in Hemodialysis Patients

Hemodialysis is one of the renal replacement therapies in patients with end stage of renal disease. Despite regular treatment for hemodialysis، the hemodialytic patients suffer from a series of symptoms collectively known as uremic syndrome، so that inadequate dialysis has been known as one of the important causes of mortality in these patients. The current study was conducted with the aim of specifying the effect of intradialytic physical and mental exercises on the quality of dialysis among these patients. The current study was a clinical trial that 66 dialytic patients were selected via purposeful sampling and assigned into two groups، namely the control and the experimental. The latter group went through planned intradialytic exercises by a senior expert in physical education twice a week for two months. The dialysis adequacy for both groups was measured using Kt/v formula before، one and two months after the intervention and then compared. Collected data were analyzed by means of SPSS 18 software. The mean of the dialysis adequacy before the intervention was measured to be 1. 22 ± 0. 27. Moreover، the mean of dialysis adequacy both before and after intervention in the experimental group was respectively 1. 12 ± 0. 17 and 1. 31 ± 0. 28 (P = 0. 001); it was 1. 32 ± 0. 31 and 1. 31 ± 0. 30 in the control group (P = 0. 45). The intradialytic physical and mental exercises are prescribed as supplementary therapies due to their taking away no extra-time from the patients، being cost efficient، easy، applicable، and flexible in increasing the dialysis adequacy and، therefore، improving the quality of life among the hemodialytic patients.