EFFECTS OF AQUATIC PHYSIOTHERAPY ON BALANCE SURVIVORS OF ENCEPHALIC VASCULAR ACCIDENTS

Abstract

Stroke is characterized by an ischemic or hemorrhagic brain injury that occurs due to lack of cerebral blood supply and can cause severe motor and cognitive impairment, including balance deficit. Increasingly, aquatic physiotherapy has been used as an option for primary intervention in patients with this impairment, which raises curiosity about clinical and scientific evidences of this treatment. Objectives were to demonstrate the effects of aquatic physical therapy on balance in patients with stroke. In the present study, six articles were selected that evaluated the effects of aquatic physiotherapy on the balance in stroke patients, of which 5 presented improvement of the balance through the score In the Berg scale, 1 through the Functional Reach Test score, and 3 of them presented gait improvement. It was observed through the reviewed studies that there are good indications of the efficacy of aquatic physiotherapy in the balance in patients with stroke, however, there is still a need for new Studies with larger number of samples and follow-ups