Efeitos de um protocolo adaptado de Pilates em deficientes visuais

Abstract

The Vision is the sense that allows the individual to have interaction and experiences with the environment in which he is, the loss of vision can lead to a lot of problems. Individuals with visual impairment present a difficult for a conscious and correct perception of the postural balance and may have repercussions on his physical and social aspects. At present, it is necessary to have a specific treatment for the visually impaired persons, which allows adequate conditions to reach the needs and individual’s specificities, an adapted and accessible treatment that focus in the cognitive, affective, social and motor development. In this context, we have the Pilates, as a treatment that already has evidence in the improvement of the balance in sighted populations. Based on all of this, the present study aimed to evaluate and compare the balance of individuals with visual impairment using baropodometric before and after an adapted Pilates protocol, the analysis was intragroup and intergroup. Twenty-one visual deficient individuals participated of the study, aged between 18 and 59 years, both of the sexes, were divided into 2 groups, Pilates Group (PG) - 11 participants and Control Group (CG) - 10 participants. The GP performed interventions using an adapted Pilates protocol lasting 50 minutes per session, twice a week for 8 weeks, the CG did not perform any type of treatment. After the intervention, the lateral-lateral, anteroposterior and bipodal area, intragroup and intergroup, presented significantly lower values were observed in all variables in the intergroup analysis of PG and CG, although a high Cohen D was observed when comparing both groups in the pre and post Pilates protocol adapted. From this study, we conclude that an adapted Pilates protocol of eight weeks, twice a week, had a positive effect on the balance of the visually impaired, which suggests that it can be indicated as a possibility of treatment for this population.