The effect of 8 weeks selective training programs with instructions focus of attention on walking speed of patients with multiple sclerosis

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a chronic, autoimmune, inflammatory nervous system disease. It leads to the loss of myelin in the white matter of brain, spinal cord and optic nerves, and causes tiredness, muscle cramp, tremor, unsteady gait and some inability to move. The present quasi-experimental study used a pretest-posttest design.This study was conducted in 2013 on 24 women, referring to MS association in Mashhad, Iran. The subjects with the age of 27-37, expanded disability status scale or EDSS 1-4, were purposefully and voluntarily selected and randomly allocated to the experimental and control groups (n = 8 in each group).Training program for groups was carried out in 8 weeks, three sessions per week, and each session lasted about one hour. Patients walking speed was measured, using 25-foot walk test, before and after exercise. The data were analyzed by descriptive statistics and using analysis of Repeated measures at a significance level of P ≤ 0.05. after training program, the subjects walking speed were significantly increased. Significant improvements observed in walking speed characteristics of the experimental group(P ≤ 0.05).significant differences observed between post test scores in the experimental and control groups(P ≥ 0.05).The results of within-group analysis of variance showed that the external intervention was significantly(p <. 05). Because of increased effect on walking speed, we recommended training program as a complementary treatment alongside medicinal treatments for MS patients. Acknowledgements: The authors would like to thanks all the workers Mashhad Multiple sclerosis’s Disease Association. The authors would also like to thank participants, For her assistance in performed programs training.