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INTRODUCTION

Multiple sclerosis is a chronic degenerative disease that affects the brain and spinal cord. It is characterized by polymorphic symptomatology that changes the way the body is represented and experienced. Coping with these changes requires various therapeutic strategies, including physiotherapy.

PURPOSE OF THE STUDY: Based on the perspective of people with multiple sclerosis, this article aims to explore the bodily limitations it imposes, and to investigate how physiotherapy exercises help manage them.

METHODS

A qualitative study was carried out with eighteen people with multiple sclerosis. Semi-structured interviews, carried out after physiotherapists proposed a home exercise program, were analyzed using MAXQDA content analysis software.

RESULTS

Participants reported a range of symptoms-fatigue, problems with balance, motor skills, and movement coordination, pain, urinary or fecal incontinence, and eye and cognitive problems-which confronted them with the limitations and incapacities of a failing body. Physiotherapy exercises reinforce this perception but may also have the potential to act on the disease by improving physical skills, psychological well-being, and participation in social life.

CONCLUSIONS

As an adjunct to drug treatment, regular practice of physiotherapy exercises contributes to the management of multiple sclerosis. This practice can help shift the boundaries in terms of body mobilization limits and the range of achievable actions.