SYSTEMATIC REVIEW ABOUT THE EFFICACY OF YHE PHYSICAL THERAPY TREATMENT FOR THE IRRITABLE BOWEL SYNDROME

Abstract

Introduction: irritable bowel syndrome is a chronic functional intestine disorder, that does not present organ damage. It can cause pain. Its global prevalence is around 11 %, and in Spain is around 10 %. Objective: to analyze the existing evidence in the literature about the efficacy of Physical therapy techniques used in the treatment of irritable bowel syndrome. Material and method: a systematic review was carried out, using the databases Coch-rane Library Plus, PEDro, Pubmed, Scopus and Sportdiscus, from February to December 2020. The studies in-cluded, were published during the last 5 years in Spanish, English or French; they had to have a design as systematic review, meta-analysis, randomized clinical trial, longitudinal study or transversal study 2 cohorts, de-veloped in humans of al least 18 years old, with a medical diagnosis of irritable bowel syndrome. The intestinal symtomatology, characterized by pain, abdominal distension, frequency and shape and consistency of feces, were the main outcome measures. Scales JADAD and Newcastle-Ottawa Scale were used to analyze the quality of the studies. Results: 9 studies were selected. 7 were randomized clinical trials (RCTs), 1 was a longitudinal prospec-tive study (LPS) and 1 was a longitudinal prospective study (LRS). Conclusions: this review finds an improvement on the treatment of the irritable bowel symptoms. The quality level of the studies is low; more research is needed in order to obtain stronger recommendations.