A Study to Analyse the Effect of Exercise in Individuals With Alcohol Withdrawal Syndrome (Aws)

Objective: The aim of the study is to find out the effect of exercise along with medications in individuals with alcohol withdrawal syndrome and to compare their result with individuals taking medications alone for alcohol withdrawal syndrome.

Background of the Study: Worldwide alcohol consumption in 2010 was equal to 6.2 litres of pure alcohol which translates into 13.5 grams of pure alcohol/day. In 2012, about 3.3 million deaths were attributable to alcohol consumption. When someone stops using alcohol after a period of heavy drinking, a sought of symptoms typically includes anxiety, fast heart rate, shakiness, sweating, vomiting and a mild fever. More severe symptoms includes seizures, visual & auditory hallucination and delirium tremens (DTs). The symptoms typically begins around 6 hours following the last drink, and are worst at 24 to 72 hours. There are three stages of AWS. Stage 1(mild), stage 2(moderate) and stage 3 (severe).

The treatment for AWS includes only medical intervention and psychological therapy which has good improvement. This study aims to analysis the effect of exercise along with medical intervention and psychological therapy for better improvement.

Methodology: This was an experimental study design with comparative pre and post study type. Once the study is reviewed and approved by Institutional Review Board, 40 samples among 60 were selected from Turning Point Deaddiction Centre - Maduravoyal. The study includes the samples only if with stage 1, stage 2 AWS and those who are willing to participate in the study. Excludes those with stage 3 AWS, recurrent episodes of seizure, delirious mental state and old age people above 65 yrs. The outcome measure used was a questionnaire CIWA-Ar. After getting the consent, the 40 samples were equally divided and allocated into two groups–group A and group B. Group A received exercise in the form of relaxation exercise, breathing exercise, balance exercise (eg. Frenkel coordination) and low intensity high repetition endurance training along with medications. Group B received medications alone prescribed by consent registered medical practitioners in their rehabilitation centre. The intervention was carried out for 45 days. The exercise intervention for group A carried out for 5 days/week and 2 session/day. The endurance training was progressed once in a week. The post score was recorded. The pre and post data were analysed using SPSS version 21.0.

Result: On comparing the mean value, both the groups showed much reduction in signs and symptoms of alcohol withdrawal syndrome. The pre test mean value for group A is 38.80. After giving them exercise intervention for 45 days, the signs and symptoms reduced to greater extent with the post mean of 9.15. In Group B, the pre and post mean are 38.75 and 19.0 respectively which is significant at P ≤ 0.001. Hence Null hypothesis is rejected.

On comparing the post mean of Group A and Group B, Group A showed much reduction in the signs and symptoms of AWS than Group B.

Conclusion: Exercise along with medication shows greater improvement among the individuals with alcohol withdrawal syndrome.