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Rehabilitation medicine
Protocol
Physical therapy for the management of motor symptoms in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis: protocol for a systematic review
  1. Stephano Tomaz Silva1,
  2. Aline Alves de Souza1,
  3. Karen Pondofe1,
  4. Luciana Protásio de Melo1,
  5. Vanessa R Resqueti1,
  6. Ricardo Alexsandro de Medeiros Valentim2,
  7. Tatiana Souza Ribeiro1
  1. 1Department of Physical Therapy, Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte, Natal, Brazil
  2. 2Laboratory of Technological Innovation in Health and Department of Physical Therapy, Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte, Natal, Brazil
  1. Correspondence to Mr Stephano Tomaz Silva; stephano.tomaz{at}gmail.com

Abstract

Introduction The prescription of an intervention plan can be challenging for the physical therapist, considering clinical phenotypes, individual prognosis and the rapid, progressive and deteriorating nature of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). In this context, therapeutic exercises (eg, resistance and aerobic exercises) for patients with ALS remain controversial and may influence the treatment plan. Therefore, this review aims to critically assess whether physical therapy interventions are effective for improving functional capacity, quality of life and fatigue of individuals with ALS.

Methods and analysis Studies will be selected according to eligibility criteria, and language, geographical area or publication date will not be restricted. Four databases will be used: MEDLINE, EMBASE, Cochrane Library (CENTRAL) and Physiotherapy Evidence Database (PEDro). Searches will also be conducted on ClinicalTrials.gov and references from included studies. We plan to conduct the searches between October and December 2022. Two independent authors will examine titles and abstracts and exclude irrelevant studies and duplicates. We will assess the quality of studies and quality of evidence, and disagreements will be resolved with a third researcher. The findings will be presented in the text and tables; if possible, we will perform meta-analyses.

Ethics and dissemination No ethical approval is required because this study does not involve human beings. We will publish our findings in peer-reviewed journals.

PROSPERO registration number CRD42021251350.

  • Neuromuscular disease
  • REHABILITATION MEDICINE
  • Neurology
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/

This is an open access article distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited, appropriate credit is given, any changes made indicated, and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/.

https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2022-063689

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    Footnotes

    • Twitter @luprotasio, @vanessaresqueti

    • Contributors STdS: research concept and study design, literature review, and writing and reviewing of the manuscript. AAdS: literature review and study design. KP, VRR: research concept and study design. LPdM: study design. RAdMV: funding acquisition. TSR: research concept, study design, reviewing and project administration.

    • Funding This study was partially supported by the Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel-Brazil (CAPES)-Finance Code 001 and the National Council for Scientific and Technological Development and Ministry of Health through a Decentralized Execution Term (TED132/2018).

    • Competing interests None declared.

    • Patient and public involvement Patients and/or the public were not involved in the design, or conduct, or reporting, or dissemination plans of this research.

    • Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed.

    • Supplemental material This content has been supplied by the author(s). It has not been vetted by BMJ Publishing Group Limited (BMJ) and may not have been peer-reviewed. Any opinions or recommendations discussed are solely those of the author(s) and are not endorsed by BMJ. BMJ disclaims all liability and responsibility arising from any reliance placed on the content. Where the content includes any translated material, BMJ does not warrant the accuracy and reliability of the translations (including but not limited to local regulations, clinical guidelines, terminology, drug names and drug dosages), and is not responsible for any error and/or omissions arising from translation and adaptation or otherwise.