Na recém-lançada edição da Revista Brasileira de Fisioterapia (vol.14; n.3; May/June 2010) dois artigos são da área de Fisioterapia Aquática. Um de pesquisadores de Minas Gerais e outro de pesquisadores do Rio Grande do Sul.
BACKGROUND: Aging compromises the ability of the central nervous system to maintain body balance and reduces the capacity for adaptive reactions. To prevent falls, the reception conditions for sensory information need to be improved. OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the impact of a structured aquatic and a non-aquatic exercise program for lower-limb muscle endurance on the static and dynamic balance of elderly people. METHODS: This was a prospective randomized clinical study in which the variables were assessed before and after the training program. Thirty-six elderly people were evaluated using four tests: the Berg Balance Scale, Dynamic Gait Index, gait speed and tandem gait. The participants were randomized into three groups: aquatic exercise group, non-aquatic exercise group and control group. The exercise groups underwent a program for lower-limb muscle endurance that consisted of 40-minute sessions twice a week for six weeks. The participants were reevaluated after six weeks. The data were analyzed statistically using the univariate ANOVA test for comparisons between the groups before and after the intervention. RESULTS: The program for lower-limb muscle endurance significantly increased balance (p<0.05) in the evaluation tests after the training program. CONCLUSION: The muscle endurance program provided a significant improvement in static and dynamic balance among community-dwelling elderly people. It was also possible to infer that this improvement occurred regardless of the environment, i.e. aquatic or non-aquatic.
Keywords : hydrotherapy; physical therapy; elderly people.
Effect of aquatic physical therapy on pain and state of sleep and wakefulness among stable preterm newborns in neonatal intensive care units.
OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the effects of aquatic physical therapy on pain and on the cycle of sleep and wakefulness among stable hospitalized premature infants. METHODS: This study was characterized as an uncontrolled clinical trial on a time series and included 12 clinically stable newborns of gestational age less than 36 weeks who were hospitalized in a neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). After selection, the newborns were placed in a liquid medium for aquatic physical therapy lasting 10 minutes. Movements to stimulate flexor posture and postural organization were performed. The sleep-wakefulness cycle was assessed using the adapted Brazelton (1973)* scale and pain was assessed by the occurrence of signs of pain according to the Neonatal Facial Coding System (NFCS) scale; and physiological parameters. RESULTS: In relation to states of sleep and wakefulness, before the physical therapy, the newborns' behavior varied from fully awake with vigorous body movements to crying. After the physical therapy, the states of sleep ranged from light sleep with closed eyes to some body movement. These values presented statistically significant differences (p<0.001). The score on the pain assessment scale also decreased from 5.38±0.91 to 0.25±0.46, with p<0.001 after the intervention. The vital signs remained stable. CONCLUSIONS: It is suggested that aquatic physical therapy can be a simple and effective method for reducing pain and improving sleep quality among preterm infants in NICUs. Controlled studies with larger numbers of subjects are needed in order to generalize the results.
Keywords : aquatic physical therapy; preterm; neonatology.
Em uma única edição termos dois artigos de FA é uma raridade, que esperamos tornar-se uma constante realidade!
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