Investigation of the Effects of Clinical Pilates Exercises on Primary Caregivers of Special Needs Children

Investigation of the Effects of Clinical Pilates Exercises on Primary Caregivers of Special Needs Children: Randomized Comparative Study

The aim of this research is to investigate the effectiveness of clinical Pilates exercises applied to primary caregivers of children with special needs, flexibility, muscle strength, endurance, cardiovascular endurance, fatigue, coping attitudes and quality of life, depression and anxiety.

Individuals participating in the study will be randomly divided into two groups through the randomized allocation software program. The first group will be given Clinical Pilates exercise training, while the second group will be considered as the control group. The exercises will be applied to the group attending the Clinical Pilates exercise training for 45-60 minutes, twice a week for a total of 8 weeks. Each movement will consist of one set and 10 repetitions. In the Clinical Pilates program, equipment and exercises will be gradually increased. Equipment to be used throughout the Clinical Pilates program; Pilates cushion, Elastic resistant band (red, green, blue), Exercise ball (65 cm) In the Clinical Pilates group, the training session will start with the warm-up program, core stabilization training, clinical Pilates exercises will be applied to increase the postural smoothness and strength, and the exercise session will be terminated with the cooling period. The clinical Pilates group will be given 5 key elements of clinical Pilates (Respiratory-Centre focus- Chest placement - Shoulder placement - Head-neck placement) will be explained. No exercise program will be applied to the control group for 8 weeks. A sufficient number of trials will be conducted to enable participants to adapt to the evaluation and treatment. The evaluations will be done as pre-test and post-test for both groups and then the groups will be compared. Individuals who have agreed to participate in the study and have signed the information consent form will be included.

Inclusion Criteria:

• Caring for children over 3 years of age≥1 with special needs,
• Caring for the child for at least 6 months, with or without blood connection (mother, father, nan, aunt, sibling, carer, etc.)
• Being between the ages of 18-55,
• Has not had regular exercise in the last 6 months (3 days a week, more than 20 minutes)

Exclusion Criteria:

• Have serious orthopaedic, neurological, rheumatologic and psychiatric problems that may prevent clinical Pilates exercises.
• Pregnancy
• Has had a traumatic injury or surgery in the last 6 months