O impacto da atividade física na saúde e qualidade de vida de pessoas com deficiência Físico-Motora: Uma revisão sistemática

Abstract

According to data from the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE), collected in the third quarter of 2022, 8.9% of the Brazilian population has some type of disability, whether physical or intellectual. In this context, physical activity emerges as a valuable tool for the rehabilitation of these individuals, directly impacting their quality of life. The regular practice of adapted physical exercises offers a series of benefits, including improvements in muscle strength, flexibility, motor coordination, and cardiovascular endurance. Therefore, the aim of this study is to systematically analyze the relationship between the practice of physical activity and improvements in the quality of life and health of people with physical-motor disabilities. For this purpose, a search was conducted on the PubMed database using combinations of the DeCS/MeSH descriptors “Disabled people”, “Physical activity”, and “Quality of life”, with the Boolean operator “AND”, between June and August 2024, which returned, after applying filters, 404 studies, all tabulated according to the PRISMA strategy. Of these, 12 randomized controlled trials were selected for data extraction and systematic analysis. The risk and methodological quality of the studies were assessed based on Cochrane Institute guidelines, using the RevManager 2.0 tool. The results indicated that interventions in adapted physical activity can significantly improve the health and functionality of people with physical-motor disabilities. In patients with cardiovascular impairment, moderate training increased VO₂ peak from approximately 15.9 ml/kg/min and improved performance on the 6-minute walk test. In individuals with muscle mass loss, the application of electromyostimulation for 4 weeks increased the number of repetitions on the chair rise test from 5 to 7, with gains in knee extension strength and protocol efficacy ranging between 80% and 90%. In children with cerebral palsy, intensive programs aimed at developing specific skills, such as learning to ride a bicycle, increased the odds of achieving goals by up to 10 times, with benefits maintained for up to three months. It is therefore concluded that adapted physical activity, when supervised and individualized, promotes significant gains in functional capacity, muscle strength, and quality of life, underscoring its importance as a therapeutic and inclusion strategy for people with disabilities.