Os benefícios do método pilates em indivíduos hemiparéticos: uma revisão sistemática da literatura

Abstract

Introduction: Post stroke individuals have many deficiencies, being the motor the most prevalent and indicated as one of the most disabling. Pilates, a method that provides increased flexibility, muscular strength and balance, has been shown in recent studies to be effective in hemiparetic patients and is recommended as a tool for the rehabilitation process in this population. Objective: To investigate, by a systematic review, the effects of the Pilates method on post stroke individuals. Methods: An electronic search was performed using an optimized strategy in the Medline, CINAHL, SPORTDiscus, Web of Science, LILACS and PEDro databases, plus a manual search. The studies were analyzed by two independent evaluators regarding eligibility and extraction of the data and possible disagreements were solved by a third evaluator. There were no restrictions on the language or date of the publications. The methodological quality of the articles was evaluated by the PEDro scale. Results: The search strategy returned 200 studies and 199 were excluded after analysis. The manual search returned three studies and both were included, totaling four studies. Outcome measures investigated were balance, lower limb strength, posture, walking speed, step length, range of motion and quality of life. In general, the four studies showed that patients after stroke who used the Pilates method for their rehabilitation obtained improvement, mainly in measures of balance and quality of life. Conclusion: Although the results are promising, indicating the Pilates as a possible resource for the rehabilitation of post-stroke individuals, such conclusions are based on only four studies of low to moderate methodological quality. Thus, there is still a need for more randomized clinical trials that evaluate these and other possible benefits of Pilates in this population in order to be scientifically proven its effects and, thus, adequately and reliably to recommend this method in the treatment of these individuals.