Iranian Journal of Rehabilitation Research in Nursing

Introduction: Multiple Sclerosis (MS) is the most common progressive neurological disorder in young adults. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of Frenkel's training with and without suit therapy on fatigue and balance of MS patients.

Methods: This research was a semi-empirical study, in which 45 male and female participants suffering from MS, were recruited voluntarily and purposefully in this study and were then randomly assigned to 3 groups of control, without suit therapy, and with suit therapy. The groups with and without suit therapy in addition to pharmacotherapy, received 8 weeks of Frenkel's training, including 3 sixty-minute sessions per week, while the patients of the control group had only received pharmacotherapy during this period. The patient's fatigue (FFS) and balance (Berg) were evaluated at the beginning and the end of 8 weeks. All data were analyzed using paired t test, one-way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) and Bonferroni post-test. In this study, a statistically significant level of P < 0.05 was considered.

Results: A significant difference was observed in fatigue between the 3 groups (P=0.000). A significant improvement was observed in the group without suit therapy when compared with the control group (P = 0.020), and a significant improvement in the group with suit therapy compared with the control group (P = 0.000), yet, between the groups with and without suit therapy, no significant difference was observed (P = 0.244). A significant difference was observed in balance between the 3 groups (P = 0.000). A significant improvement was observed in the group without suit therapy compared with the control group (P = 0.006), and a significant improvement in the group with suit therapy compared with the control group (P = 0.000), and also a significant improvement in the group with suit therapy in comparison to without suit therapy (P = 0.032).

Conclusions: It seems that Frenkel's training had a positive effect on fatigue and balance of MS patients, and also in balance improvement Frenkel's training with suit therapy is better than without suit therapy.