Author(s):
Viana, João L. ; Martins, Pedro ; Parker, Kristen ; Madero, Magdalena ; Pérez Grovas, Héctor ; Anding, Kirsten ; Degenhardt, Stefan ; Gabrys, Iwona ; Raugust, Shauna ; West, Christina ; Cowan, Theresa E. ; Wilund, Kenneth R.
Date: 2019
Persistent ID: http://hdl.handle.net/10400.24/1760
Origin: Repositório Científico da UMaia
Subject(s): Aged; Canada; Exercise Therapy; Female; Germany; Humans; Internationality; Kidney Failure, Chronic; Male; Mexico; Middle Aged; Muscle Weakness; Muscular Diseases; Portugal; Program Development; Program Evaluation; Renal Dialysis; Treatment Outcome; Quality of Life; Aged; Aged; Canada; Canada; Exercise Therapy; Exercise Therapy; Female; Female; Germany; Germany; Humans; Humans; Internationality; Internationality; Kidney Failure, Chronic; Kidney Failure, Chronic; Male; Male; Mexico; Mexico; Middle Aged; Middle Aged; Muscle Weakness; Muscle Weakness; Muscular Diseases; Muscular Diseases; Portugal; Portugal; Program Development; Program Development; Program Evaluation; Program Evaluation; Renal Dialysis; Renal Dialysis; Treatment Outcome; Treatment Outcome; Quality of Life; Quality of Life
Description
Despite having good intentions, hemodialysis (HD) clinics often fail to sustain exercise programs that they initiate. There are many reasons for this, including a lack of funding, inadequate training of the clinic staff, a lack of exercise professionals to manage the program or train the staff, and the many challenges inherent to exercising a patient population with multiple comorbid diseases. Despite these barriers, there are several outstanding examples of successful exercise programs in HD clinics throughout the world. The aim of this manuscript is to review the characteristics of four successfully sustained HD exercise programs in Portugal, Canada, Mexico, and Germany. We describe the unique approaches they have used to fund and manage their programs, the varied exercise prescriptions they incorporate, the unique challenges they face, and discuss the benefits they have seen. While the programs differ in many regards, a consistent theme is that they each have substantial and committed support from the entire clinic staff, including the nephrologists, administration, nurses, dietitians, and technicians. This suggests that exercise programs in HD clinics can be successfully implemented and sustained provided significant effort is made to foster a culture of physical activity throughout the clinic.
