The Effect of High and Medium Intensity Resistance Training on Pulmonary Function Indexes in Women with Multiple Sclerosis

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a chronic progressive disease of the central nervous system with different physical and psychological disabling symptoms, which causes a lot of problems for the patient. This study aimed to investigate the effect of different intensities of resistance training on pulmonary function indexes of women with multiple sclerosis. Having control group, this study was a quasi-experimental intervention in a pretest-posttest. The research population includes all active registered female patients of Ahwaz MS Society. According to the including and excluding criteria, 36 MS suffering patients were entered to the study among the eligible, available and voluntary women, purposefully. They were completely randomized in three groups. The training groups were trained for 12 weeks, 3 sessions per week. The first and second groups were resistanly trained in three sets (10-12 repetitions with 60% 1RM severity) and four sets (6-8 repetitions with 80% 1RM intensity), respectively; while the third group was control without any exercise program. Before and after training, respiratory performance indicators, body composition, maximum oxygen consumption, muscle strength and muscular endurance were measured and spirometry tests were performed. Using variance analysis with repeated measurements, the results were analyzed. There were no significant difference for FEV1, FVC, MVV, VC, FEV1/FVC, BMI and waist to hip ratio after 12 weeks (P> 0.05) between the two training intensities. Meanwhile, as compared to the control group, these changes were significant for the experimental groups. Lipid mass in training groups showed a significant increase (P = 0.03). In addition to improved balance, fatigue and muscular endurance, our findings showed that moderate and high intensity exercises had similar effects on pulmonary function indices in women with multiple sclerosis. Significant level was considered as P≤ 0.05.