Effectiveness of an Educational Physiotherapy and Therapeutic Exercise Program in Adult Patients With Hemophilia: A Randomized Controlled Trial

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: To assess the efficacy of an educational physiotherapy home exercise intervention for physical improvement, pain perception, quality of life, and illness behavior in patients with hemophilic arthropathy.

DESIGN: Single‐blind randomized controlled trial.

SETTING: Home.

PARTICIPANTS: Patients with hemophilia (N=20) were randomly allocated to an educational intervention group or to a control group.

INTERVENTIONS: The educational intervention was performed every 2 weeks over a 15‐week period, and home exercises were carried out once a day, 6 days a week, over the same period.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Joint status was evaluated using the Gilbert scale; pain was assessed using the visual analog scale; illness behavior was evaluated using the Illness Behavior Questionnaire; and the perception of the quality of life was evaluated using the A36 Hemophilia‐QoL questionnaire.

RESULTS: We observed significant differences in the intervention group and the control group for both quality of life and illness behavior. There was no significant improvement in joint status; however, an improvement was noted in terms of perception of pain in the ankle.

CONCLUSIONS: A physiotherapy program based on educational sessions and home exercises can improve the perception of pain in patients with hemophilic arthropathy of the ankle. It improves some variables in the perception of the quality of life and illness behavior.