Effects of Stretching Exercise and Tens Therapy on Severity of Restless Legs Syndrome in Obese Population

Abstract

Restless legs syndrome (RLS) is a disorder in which you have an uncontrolled need to move your legs, generally in response to an unpleasant feeling. It usually happens in the evening or at night, while you're seated or lying down. Moving briefly alleviates the uncomfortable sensation. Objective: To determine effects of stretching exercises and TENS therapy on severity of restless leg syndrome in obese population. Materials and Methods: In this single-blinded, randomized, controlled study, 30 subjects with RLS aged above 20 years were randomly assigned into two groups, intervention group (TENS +stretching) and control group (stretching). Both groups received these interventions for 8 weeks (5 times a week for 8 weeks). Outcome measures included severity of pain in accordance with IRLSSG-score. Results: Independent t test was applied on baseline group 1(interventional group) is compare with group 2 (control group). The results showed that there was statistically significant difference between two groups with p < 0.05. IRLSSG-score mean in interventional group15.94 ±6.27 was more than control group 7.42±2.78.The mean difference in interventional group 15.94 ±6.27 is more than control group 15.94 ±6.27, which shows greater effectiveness of TENS as compared to stretching in treating restless leg syndrome. Conclusion: The present study was conducted for a period of eight weeks on 30 patients from OPD of multiple hospitals in Multan, Pakistan. TENS and stretching is a suitable and durable approach for RLS treatment and improve pain. TENS and stretching demonstrated more clinical benefits than stretching alone with regard to IRLSSG score parameters Hence, Alternate Hypothesis was accepted

Effects of Different Exercise Programs on Symptoms, Sleep, and Quality of Life in Patients with Primary Restless Legs Syndrome

“…Studies in patients with RLS on hemodialysis have indicated that 4‐to 6‐month aerobic exercise and stretching exercises lowered the severity of symptoms compared with control or dopamine treatment 27–32 . Although there are studies on the effectiveness of aerobic exercise and stretching exercises in patients with primary RLS, there is no comparison between the exercises 33,34 . Exercise has been shown to modulate dopamine and glutamate neurotransmission and synaptogenesis and enhance regional cerebral blood flow 35 .…”

“…Only 3 studies investigating exercise with potentially primary RLS can be compared with our study in terms of sample size. Esteves et al included only 11 participants, 4 and the Haider et al study included 30 patients with RLS who were obese with no exclusion criteria for anemia or pregnancy 34 . In the study by Aukerman and colleagues, which is a pioneering study in terms of exercise in patients with RSL, secondary conditions were excluded, and the study was completed with only 28 patients 11 …”

“…[27][28][29][30][31][32] Although there are studies on the effectiveness of aerobic exercise and stretching exercises in patients with primary RLS, there is no comparison between the exercises. 33,34 Exercise has been shown to modulate dopamine and glutamate neurotransmission and synaptogenesis and enhance regional cerebral blood flow. 35 However, there has been little research with animal models for sleep, physical exercise, and movement disorders and the dopaminergic system, making it difficult to comprehend the various pathways involved with symptom alleviation through exercise.…”