Introduction: Chronic kidney disease consists in the slow, progressive and irreversible loss in renal function and it is considered a social and economic problem worldwide, since it is linked to numerous diseases, as well as to higher public health spending. It is known that dialysis patients undergo a long period of restricted physical activity reflects in dysfunctions in various organical systems and in the quality of their lives.
Objective: To verify the results of physical therapy intervention in patients on hemodialysis, for respiratory muscle function, grip strength and quality of life.
Methodology: Experimental, nonrandomized, quantitative and qualitative of a sample of 13 patients, 43.69 ± 9.28 years, on hemodialysis in the hospital Santa Casa de Diamantina/MG, selected by convenience. All patients were evaluated for maximal respiratory pressures (PI(max) e PE(max) ) and peak expiratory flow (PFE), before and after physiotherapy, which consisted of 3 sessions per week for a period of 2 months weeks: exercises for upper limbs, with technique PNF and breathing diaphragmatic; strengthening exercises for lower limbs and use of exerciser ball. Statistical analysis was performed using the student-t test and significance value at p < 0.05.
Results: Respective means for the variables before and after intervention were: PImáx (97.69 ± 28.3 cmH2O e 98.46 ± 23.39 cmH2O) p = 0.93; PEmáx (83.07 ± 31.19 cmH(2)O e 88.46 ± 14.0 cmH(2)O) p = 0.46 e PF (375.38 ± 75.23 L/min e 416.15 ± 57.37 L/min) p = 0.02. The dynamometer average pre intervention was: 57.23 ± 17.39 kgf and post intervention: 56.61 ± 16.09 kgf. In the SF-36, which evaluates the quality of life, improvement was observed in the eight domains, except the item 'vitality'. Of all the variables measured only the PFE was statistically significant.
Conclusion: The proposed physical therapy protocol did not promote significant improvements in those variables, the statistical point, explaining in part the small sample size, time of protocol and proposed interventions.