Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• Gallegos, Haley
• Berber, John
• Berk, Emily
• Caron, Audrey

Titel

Effects of Aquatic Therapy on Decreasing Spasticity in Children With Cerebral Palsy and Adults With Spinal Cord Injuries: A Systematic Review and a Critically Appraised Topic

Ort / Verlag

ProQuest Dissertations & Theses

Erscheinungsjahr

2023

Link zum Volltext

• ProQuest

Quelle

ProQuest Dissertations & Theses A&I

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• Background. Cerebral palsy (CP) is a neurological disorder that affects balance, posture, and mobility. The most common type of CP is spastic diplegia. Common treatments used to reduce spasticity are prolonged stretching and passive range of motion. The purpose of the systematic review (SR) was to look at the effectiveness of standard physical therapy (PT) versus standard PT coupled with aquatic therapy on spasticity in children with CP. The purpose of our critically appraised topic (CAT) was to look at the effectiveness of standard PT versus standard PT coupled with aquatic therapy on spasticity in adults with spinal cord injuries. Methods. Four independent raters conducted the SR over four databases from January to March 2023. The SR included studies using the following criteria: children with CP who received aquatic therapy as intervention in comparison to standard PT, such as prolonged stretching and therapeutic exercise, with outcomes on muscle spasticity and muscle tone. Articles were appraised using Physiotherapy Evidence Database (PEDro) and National Institute of Health-National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NIH-NHLBI) criteria. A 95% confidence interval (CI) and effect size (Cohen's d) was evaluated for most of the articles. Four researchers conducted the CAT over four databases in March 2023. Articles were appraised using the Oxford Centre for Evidence-Based Medicine (OCEBM) Levels of Evidence and NIH-NHLBI. A 95% CI was evaluated for the SR article, and no statistically significant results were reported for the remaining two articles. Results. Eight studies were included in this review, which included one SR, three randomized controlled trials, one controlled intervention study, one cross-sectional study, one pretest-posttest study, and one qualitative case study. All studies demonstrated that aquatic therapy had no significant differences when compared to standard PT in decreasing overall spasticity. However, greater improvements were made in children's overall gross motor function and quality of life. Three studies were included in the CAT, which all indicated that aquatic therapy can yield greater results in decreasing overall spasticity and increasing quality of life when combined with standard PT. Conclusions. Aquatic therapy is a promising alternative to participation in standard PT alone for reducing spasticity in children with CP. Aquatic therapy could also be beneficial to the patient if coupled with standard forms of therapy. Due to limited findings on the effects of aquatic therapy on spasticity for children with CP, more research is needed and will greatly impact treatment interventions for this population. Overall, the quality of evidence can be improved, as half of the articles used within this SR were given a fair rating on the OCEBM scale.