Efficacy of aquatic therapy on motor symptoms in patients with Parkinson's. Systematic review

Abstract

Introduction: Parkinson's is a progressive neurodegenerative condition that affects more than 10 million people. Although there are currently no interventions to significantly modify the progression of Parkinson's, new studies continue to provide information on optimal symptomatic management. In this sense, it has recently been suggested to use aquatic therapy in a complementary way to pharmacology. The objective of this work is to evaluate the effectiveness of aquatic therapy on motor symptoms in patients with Parkinson's.

Method: A systematic review was carried out using PRISMA guidelines. Randomized controlled clinical trials, carried out in humans, carried out in the last ten years were selected. The main database used was PubMed, through the National Library of Medicine platform.

Results: From all the databases consulted, 64 studies have been collected. After rejecting duplicates and applying filters, five clinical trials remained to be part of this review. The total sample was 327 patients with Parkinson's. The duration of each session ranged between 30-45 minutes, the frequency was between 2-5 times per week and the total number of sessions was between 6 and 11.

Conclusions: Aquatic therapy is effective in improving motor symptoms in patients with Parkinson's. This therapy improves gait, posture, balance and functional mobility. In addition, it reduces disability, motor symptoms, bradykinesia, gait rigidity and tremor amplitude at rest.