Intervention with a Pilates program in the primary health care of leprosy patients: an experimental study

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to evaluate the influence of a Pilates program on the perception of quality of life of leprosy patients suffering from physical disabilities and who are undergoing treatment or who have been discharged. METHODS: This is an experimental study in which 48 participants were included; however, the final sample consisted of 5 participants. We performed a standardized and systematic dermatological-neurological examination to define the Eye-Hand-Foot score. Comparisons between preintervention and postintervention were performed using the paired t and Wilcoxon tests with a significance level of 0.05. RESULTS: We did not find significant values for the quality-of-life outcome in the domains and skills observed. We identified a significant value for the level of physical activity after the intervention. CONCLUSIONS: Quality of life between preintervention and postintervention with the Pilates program did not show significant improvement through self-report.

Automated summary

The study found that the Pilates program did not significantly improve the quality of life for leprosy patients, but did increase the level of physical activity.