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Muscle Strength, Functional Capacity, and Quality of Life Responses to Pilates Exercises in Children with Burn
Alshimaa R Azab1,2, Nourah Basalem1, Mshari Alghadier1
1Department of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences, College of Applied Medical Sciences, Prince Sattam Bin Abdulaziz University, Al-Kharj, Saudi Arabia.
Insights
Adding Pilates exercise to traditional physical therapy significantly improved muscle strength, functional capacity, and quality of life in children with burn injuries. This combined approach offers a promising rehabilitation strategy for pediatric burn survivors.
Area of Science:
- Pediatric Rehabilitation
- Burn Injury Management
- Exercise Physiology
Background:
- Burns are a frequent cause of childhood injury with long-term physical and quality-of-life consequences.
- Traditional physical therapy is standard care for burned children.
- The potential benefits of adjunct therapies like Pilates require further investigation.
Purpose of the Study:
- To evaluate the efficacy of incorporating Pilates exercises into standard physical therapy for burned children.
- To assess the impact on lower extremity muscle strength, functional capacity, and quality of life.
Main Methods:
- A single-blinded randomized clinical trial involving 60 pediatric burn patients (30 control, 30 Pilates group).
- Intervention lasted 12 weeks, with sessions 3 times per week.
- Outcome measures included muscle strength, functional capacity, and quality of life, assessed at baseline and 3 months.
Main Results:
- The Pilates group demonstrated statistically significant improvements in muscle strength (P<0.001) and functional capacity (P<0.001) compared to the control group.
- Quality of life showed significant improvement in the physical subscale (P=0.03) and total scores (P=0.02) for the Pilates group.
- No significant difference was observed in the quality-of-life psychological subscale (P=0.48).
Conclusions:
- Pilates exercise, when added to traditional physical therapy, positively impacts lower limb muscle strength and functional capacity in pediatric burn survivors.
- This combined approach enhances the quality of life for children with burn injuries.
- The study provides evidence for Pilates as a beneficial adjunct therapy in pediatric burn rehabilitation.
Background:
Burns are a common childhood injury that can affect physical health for a long time, which has an impact on quality of life. This study aimed to determine whether adding Pilates exercise to a traditional physical therapy program improves lower extremity muscle strength, functional capacity, and quality of life in burned children.
Methods:
This single-blinded randomized clinical trial was conducted at Prince Sattam bin Abdulaziz University in Saudi Arabia from 2022 to 2023. A simple randomization method was followed in this study. The control group (n=30) received a traditional physical therapy program, while the Pilates group (n=30) received a Pilates training in addition to the traditional physical therapy program. All participants attended the intervention 3 days a week, for 12 weeks. Measurements were made at baseline and after 3 months of the intervention. The outcome measurements included muscle strength, functional capacity, and quality of life. The data were analyzed using SPSS software, using univariate analysis of variance with Bonferroni correction.
Results:
After intervention, there were statistically significant differences between groups, in favour of the Pilates group, in muscle strength, functional capacity (P<0.001), with mean difference and 95% CI was 16.73 (6.95, 26.52), quality of life physical subscale (P=0.03) with mean difference and 95% CI was 6.83 (0.71, 12.96), and quality of life total scores (P=0.02) with mean difference and 95% CI was 7.17 (1.34, 13.0). However, no statistically significant difference between groups on the quality-of-life psychological subscale (P=0.48).
Conclusion:
Pilates exercises in addition to a traditional physical therapy program had a positive impact on the muscle strength of the lower limb, functional capacity, and quality of life in children with burn injury compared with the traditional exercise program alone.Trial Registration Number: NCT06237361.
