The effect of therapeutic exercise on depressive symptoms in people with multiple sclerosis

Abstract

Introduction: Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a neurodegenerative disease of the central nervous system. It involvesa wide range of symptoms, with depression being one of the main sources of disability for patients living with MS. Aim: The aim of this study was to perform a review of the literature on the effects of exercise on depressive symptoms in patients with MS, with the main focus on the benefits of physiotherapy, therapeutic exercise, and telerehabilitation. Methods: The review was performed using the databases of Medline, PubMed, and other sources, such as Google Scholar and Elsevier. The keywords used for the conduction were therapeutic exercise, physiotherapy, physical therapy, rehabilitation, telerehabilitation, depression, and multiple sclerosis. The inclusion criteria consisted of studies: a) published between 2010-2021, b) looking into the effects of depression and/or therapeutic exercise in patients living with MS, and c) written in English. The exclusion criteria used were:a) patients not diagnosed with MS, b) pilot studies, c) case studies, and d) studies published prior to 2010. Results:Of the 211 potentially relevant studies detected,33 were included for qualitative synthesis. The full texts of these articles were carefully evaluated by four different examiners in different timeframes. Conclusion:Utilizing physical therapy through therapeutic exercise and/orwith telerehabilitation protocols can help improve depressive symptoms in MS patients. However, further research should be conducted regarding the parameters of different forms of intervention in order to create clinical guidelines for therapists and patients to follow.