Objective:

The main objective of this review was to know the main benefits of physical exercise during the dialysis session, in patients in periodic hemodialysis program.

Methodology:

A systematic review was conducted through the Pubmed, Science Direct and Google Scholar databases. Scientific articles in English and Spanish were included, and articles dealing with physical exercise in the hemodialysis session were analyzed. Articles that did not present results and in which physical exercise was at home were excluded.

Results:

18 articles published between 2015 and 2019 were included. All articles were of experimental design. A significant improvement in muscle strength was found, as well as in physical ability and depressive symptomatology. To a lesser extent, a decrease in blood pressure, decrease in the inflammatory process, improvement in nutritional values and improvement in the quality of life of these patients were noticed.

Conclusions:

Physical exercise in the hemodialysis session has benefits for the patient’s health. Low intensity physical exercise, as well as neuromuscular electro-stimulation in dialysis sessions, objectively improves muscle strength, increases physical capacity, improves depressive symptoms with better management of stress and anxiety. In addition, it seems that it can improve the inflammatory process, nutritional parameters and decrease blood pressure, as well as improving the quality of life. Neuromuscular electro-stimulation and low intensity physical exercise are the most commonly performed exercises.