AQUATIC THERAPY
AQUATIC THERAPY
Guion, Denise Sharielle - 2A
Jacobo, Christian Lawrence - 2A
Jamadre, Herfa Grace - 2A
Javier, Esania Adrienne - 2A
Macavinta, Danica Rose - 2A
INFOGRAPHS
- A patient has HIV (+). Group exercise in the pool is part of your PT management. Only the other patients are HIV (-). What is your best course of action?
- Let the patient join the group
- Let the patient wait until everyone is finished.
- Tell the group to let your patient finish first before dipping in the pool
- After having your patient finish the exercise sanitized the pool first for everyone’s safety.
The best course of action is let the patient join the group because we know that HIV is shared only through blood, vaginal fluid, semen, breast milk and sexual contact. In addition, HIV cannot live in swimming pools. There have been no cases of HIV transmission through swimming pools. As a physical therapist, we should have the knowledge of pathology and its effects on all systems. In our profession we must promote, guide, prescribe and manage exercise activities that enable people living with the disease to maintain or improve their level of function. Therefore it's perfectly safe to let a HIV (+) patient join the group in aquatic therapy.
2. Ambulation training I the pool: Patient has diagnosis of RA on both LE. MD prescribed ambulation training in the pool. It is the initial exercise session. The PT should walk where I relation to the patient?
- Front
- Behind
- L side
- R side
Ambulation training in the pool is good for Patients with RA of the Lower extremities because water helps support body weight, which means that ambulating in water do not impact heavily on the joints. Patients with RA of the lower extremities experience extensive joint pain and stiffness of the LE, leading to impairment such as limited joint mobility and decreased muscle strength. Knowing that, it would be best advisable for the PT to assist and walk in front in relation to the patient. With this technique the PT will be mimicking the function of a walker to provide additional support to maintain balance or stability while the patient is ambulating in the pool because the physical restrictions mentioned earlier brought upon by the disease will reduce the range of motion and overall mobility of the lower extremities of the patient which is mostly caused by the thickening of the synovium. The PT will be able to serve as a person to lean on for balance, support, and rest for the patient.
Article Title: EFFECTIVENESS OF AQUATIC THERAPY ON REDUCING PAIN AND INCREASING PHYSICAL FUNCTION IN ADULT PATIENTS WITH HIP AND/OR KNEE OSTEOARTHRITIS
Effectiveness of Aquatic Therapy on Reducing Pain and Increasing Physical Function in Adult Patients with Hip and/or Knee Osteoarthritis
Mr. Hassan Izzedin Sarsak article entitled as Effectiveness of Aquatic Therapy on Reducing Pain and Increasing Physical Function in Adult Patients with Hip and/or Knee Osteoarthritis (University of Jordan, 2018) is a research that has been made to select the strongest study in effectiveness of aquatic therapy based on variety of factors such as relevance, study design, sample site, outcomes, significance, year of publication and intensity of the intervention. This article presented 3 studies using aquatic therapy as an intervention for osteoarthritis in reducing pain and increasing physical function. Silva study was selected as the strongest evidence in this review. It is a level II evidence with randomized controlled trial design and in this study, the 64 participants were directed to do 50mins aquatic training session, 3 times a week for 18 weeks. The exercise is composed of static stretching, isometric and isotonic strengthening of major muscle group of lower extremities, and gait training with 32 degrees pool temperature. This study had the most detailed explanation of the treatment plan, most recent publication year, had the longest duration, showed that aquatic therapy reduces pain in osteoarthritis condition and leads to improvements in physical function.
This study review by Sarsak will help the physical therapy practice in addressing conditions such as osteoarthritis which is the most common type of arthritis with the knee being the affective joint and can highly affect most adult population. Osteoarthritis requires immediate action because it can cause pain, reduce balance, muscle weakness, decrease range of motion and joint instability that leads to disturbed performance of daily living activities. Though aquatic therapy can be a high cost setting and still lack studies in community-based setting, it clearly has beneficial effect in reduction of pain by using warm water, buoyancy of water, turbulence or depth of immersion, and facilitating closed-chain exercises according to Lund et al. By choosing the strongest applicable research, this review concluded and suggest that aquatic therapy exercises are effective and helpful in reducing pain and improving physical function in patients with hip and/or knee osteoarthritis and created a clinical guidelines and recommendations to follow aquatic therapy protocol in clinics. The clinical guidelines for recommended intervention, the plan, and the audit tool recommend therapist to apply aquatic therapy with patients with hip and/or knee osteoarthritis.
In conclusion, aquatic therapy is an effective intervention in patients suffering from osteoarthritis in reducing pain and increasing physical function.
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