Introduction:

End stage renal disease requires renal replacement therapy, such as haemodialysis. Patients who undergo this type of treatment are characterized by a high prevalence of cardiovascular diseases associated or exacerbated by physical inactivity and alterations of bone mineral metabolism that lead to psychological problems and low levels of quality of life.

Objective:

To identify the benefits of exercise in patients with chronic kidney disease on hemodialysis.

Methodology:

A bibliographic review was performed in PubMed, Scielo, Google Scholar and Pedro databases.

Results:

We selected 25 articles. Information was organized according to the variables evaluated in the studies. It was found that exercise in haemodialysis patients has beneficial effects at cardiovascular level, bone metabolism, solutes removal, physical function and capacity, psychological level and quality of life.

Conclusions:

Physical exercise has a great number of benefits for patients undergoing dialysis treatment. Intra-dialysis exercise programs can be an inexpensive way to help minimize problems associated with chronic kidney disease, not only in the physiological area of the patient, but also in the psychological and social area.