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

RESUMO

SUMMARY 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.