Physical exercise prescription with a focus on the quality of life of patients with lymphedema: A scoping review
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.62827/fb.v25i6.1037Keywords:
Lymphedema; Breast Cancer Lymphedema; Exercise; Quality of Life; Indicators of Quality of Life.Abstract
Introduction: Lymphedema can be primary, due to congenital malformations, or secondary, resulting from lymphatic obstruction due to other diseases or fluid overload. This negatively affects quality of life (QoL). Physical exercise is recognized worldwide as fundamental for improving QoL. However, although there are established principles for exercise prescription (frequency, intensity, time, type, volume and progression - FITT-PV), there is no consensus in the literature on the ideal prescription in the context of lymphedema and its impact on QoL. Objective: Thus, the objective of this review was to conduct a survey of the literature to identify exercise prescription variables and the impact on the QoL of people with lymphedema. Methods: This is a scoping review using a search strategy in the following databases: Pubmed, Physiotherapy Evidence Database (PEDro) and Scielo, the inclusion criteria were: Randomized Clinical Trials, with adults affected by lymphedema, submitted to exercise with QoL outcome. E For exclusion criteria: pregnant women, manual and passive therapies alone in the intervention group. Results: We extracted data from 15 articles, 86% of which addressed lymphedema caused by breast cancer. Physical exercise improved QoL in 73.3% of the articles. The exercise that was most related to the improvement of QoL was the resistance exercise, performed 3x a week with a duration between 40 - 60 minutes and load between 60 - 70% of 1RM. Conclusion: Physical exercise can improve quality of life, especially resistance exercise. There is a need for further studies to determine cause-effect with an exercise protocol using the findings of this review.
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