Efficacy of physiotherapy in the treatment of patients undergoing bariatric surgery

Abstract

Introduction: Obesity is an abnormal accumulation of fat that can harm health. Bariatric surgery is intended to assist in weight loss, and physiotherapy seeks to reduce the complications of surgery and accelerate recovery.

Objective: To evaluate the effectiveness of physiotherapy in the treatment of patients undergoing bariatric surgery.

Material and methods: Integrative literature review, searching the Pubmed, Bireme, Scielo and PEDro databases based on the keywords Physical therapy AND Bariatric Surgery OR Gastroplasty. Original articles published between 2013 and 2018, in Portuguese and English, available in free full text form, were included.

Results: Out of 6,361 articles found in the databases, 7 were included in the present study. All were clinical trials. There was great variability in relation to the sample size including from 8 to 128 individuals.

Conclusion: Physiotherapeutic treatment in the postoperative period of bariatric surgery is effective and the main benefits are: Less loss of expiratory reserve volume, reduction in the prevalence of atelectasis, improvement in functional capacity, reduction in the perception of effort, preservation of chest mobility, improvement cardiorespiratory fitness, improved insulin sensitivity and significant weight loss.