Effects of an aquatic physiotherapy program on the risk of falls in patients with chronic stroke on community: case series report

• Autor(a) principal: Cristóvão, Andreia Filipa
• Data de Publicação: 2023
• Outros Autores: Cristóvão, Andreia, Correia, Anabela, Rebelo, Pedro
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: por
• Título da fonte: Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)
• Texto Completo: https://doi.org/10.25758/set.782
• topic: Acidente vascular cerebral crónico; Risco de queda; Fisioterapia aquática; Equilíbrio; Chronic stroke; Risk of fall; Aquatic physiotherapy; Balance

Introduction and Objectives – Approximately 80% of stroke survivors have balance impairments and 58% risk of falling in the first year after stroke. Aquatic physiotherapy is one of the interventions that has been used for this purpose. The main goal of this study is toidentify the effects of an aquatic physiotherapy program on people with chronic stroke, with a risk of falls. Methods – This is a case series report, with three chronic stroke survivors (21 to 41 months). Outcome measures were: EEB, TUG, and ECEEA. The program had a duration of eight weeks, with a frequency of two times a week, for 45 minutes. Results – TUG results decreased(14 to 36 seconds), EEB (10 to 16 points) and ECEEA increased (3.13 and 6.88%). Discussion andConclusion – All participants improved their clinical status by increasing balance. TUG and EEB had clinical meaning, revealing a significant decrease in the risk of falls. Contrary to these results, those obtained by ECEEA show that participants maintain a fear of falling. Despite the results, the sample size is too small and does not allow generalizations.