The Effect of Telerehabilitation Based Pilates Training in Multiple Sclerosis Patients

Multiple Sclerosis (MS) is a chronic inflammatory disease of the central nervous system characterized by myelin, oligodendrocyte, and axon damage. MS usually begins with attacks due to demyelination of axons in the brain, optic nerve, and spinal cord; over time it develops into a neurodegenerative disease associated with neurotrophic support deficiency and neuronal loss. In MS, various loss of strength, balance, fatigue, cognitive and gait disturbances arise in the central nervous system due to sensory and/or motor neuron degeneration. These disorders affect the quality of life by limiting the individual's activities and participation in their daily lives. Therefore, it is important to treat these disorders in the treatment of MS.

There are various pharmacological treatments and invasive procedures for the management of MS symptoms and one of the most commonly used treatment options is rehabilitation. Clinically-based exercise and rehabilitation are some of the most beneficial rehabilitation strategies in people with MS (PwMS). Clinically-based exercise and rehabilitation have been shown to stabilize or improve many physical symptoms of MS including loss of strength, balance dysfunction, impaired mobility, and fatigue. These benefits have led many practitioners to consider physical exercise as a nonpharmaceutical disease-modifying treatment. However, due to various factors such as mobility disorders, fatigue, and related problems, geographic location, time constraints, transportation difficulties, health insurance coverage, and financial burden, clinical-based exercise may be problematic in some pwMS. To overcome these challenges, approaches to rehabilitation have been developed such as telerehabilitation. The telerehabilitation system provides benefits such as continuity in patient education and rehabilitation, showing progress in rehabilitation, making changes in the treatment program, and saving individuals time and financial expenses. It is also an innovative and potential alternative to face-to-face interventions for treating disease-related disorders in pwMS. In literature, there are many studies examining the effectiveness of telerehabilitation in pwMS. According to these studies, ıt has been shown that telerehabilitation, with its technical facilities, had the potential to make clinical interventions widely accessible and effective for MS, however, telerehabilitation-based interventions could not replace traditional interventions but could perfectly complement. It has been found that telerehabilitation improved balance and postural control in MS patients and had no side effects. However, it was emphasized that the evidence levels of the studies were insufficient for methodological reasons. It has been determined additional studies are needed to investigate examining the effect on walking.

Another clinical-based exercise method is Pilates. Pilates is a "core" stability-based exercise method that includes endurance, flexibility, movement, posture, and respiratory control. Studies have shown that Pilates training can improve balance, mobility, and muscle strength, fatigue in pwMS due to its structure consisting of balance and strengthening exercises. When the literature is reviewed in terms of Telerehabilitation based on Pilates in pwMS, it is seen that there are only two studies. In both studies, pwMS were given 20 minutes of yoga, 20 minutes of Pilates, and 20 minutes of dual-task exercise. However, these studies were in the project phase and the results are still not reported. On the other hand, in both studies, Pilates is given as combined training.

As a result, telerehabilitation is an alternative method to MS treatment. In addition, while there are many clinical-based Pilates studies in the literature, telerehabilitation-based Pilates studies are insufficient. Telerehabilitation-based Pilates training studies are needed. Therefore, the investigators planned this study to investigate the effect of telerehabilitation-based pilates training on physical performance and quality of life in pwMS.

This study is planned as a randomized control trial. Patients will be randomly divided into two groups as intervention and control. The intervention group will be received telerehabilitation-based pilates training three times a week for six weeks. Telerehabilitation-based pilates will be provided via videoconferencing.

The first session will be the introduction session, patients will be informed about basic principles of Pilates and it will be included teaching inward movement of the lower abdominal wall and supine exercises of segmental movements involving trunk muscle recruitment to maintain a neutral posture. Afterward the session, a typical session will be included supine, side-lying, quadruped exercise, sitting on the exercise ball, and standing exercises. Exercises will be included thoracic extension, general abdominal strengthening, core stabilization exercises for the deep abdominal muscles. The difficulty of these exercises will be gradually increased and focused on keeping neutral positions of the spine in different gravity orientations. The control group will be a wait-list group without any additional specific treatment. All assessments will be done before and after the 6-week intervention program or waiting period. The demographic characteristics of the participants initially will be taken and the Expanded Disability Status Scale score of those of MS will be recorded. Primary outcomes are balance, gait, core endurance and power, and muscle strength; secondary outcomes are physical activity, fatigue, and quality of life

Eligibility Criteria:
Inclusion Criteria:

* 18-65 years of age
* Voluntarily participate in research to accept
* Having a diagnosis of "Multiple Sclerosis" by a specialist physician
* Relapse free in the last 3 mounts
* An Expanded Disability Status Scale (EDSS) score less than or equal to 4

Exclusion Criteria:

* Any cardiovascular, orthopedic, visual, hearing, and perception problems that may affect the results of the research.