The Evidence of Aquatic Therapy for Painful Shoulder Disability.

Abstract

The overall goal of this work was to study Aquatic Therapy for Painful ShoulderDisability. Scientific evidence is not strong. The findings are focused on thepostoperative rotator cuff lesion, upper limb dysfunction and biomechanicalcharacterization of the shoulder. What happens in silent shoulder injuries? Agingpeople adapt to their disability and look for an easier way to move. To promotehealthy aging, doctors recommend aquatic activities because of the low impacton the skeletal muscle system. The deep-water is one of the techniques used inlong-term programs of aquatic therapy or aquatic activities, with excellentadherence among the elderly. We studied the buoyancy influence in shoulderabduction and horizontal extension in deep-water, through the dual-mediabiomechanical analysis of the movement of upper limbs, we found a significantinfluence of the devices on the range of motion, but not on speed or smoothness,these findings showed evidence for making a decision. In a sample of older adultswith chronical health conditions and painful dysfunction of the upper limb, westudied for their expectations, satisfaction, functional perception and theassociation between a functional scale based on the International Classificationof Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF) and Disability of Arm, Shoulder andHand (DASH). Deeper, what immediate effects do patients had from an aquatictherapy session? In addition, what was the effect of detraining of aquatic therapyafter a summer pause? The findings showed evidence for continuous programs,as detraining is significant for balance and pain. The goals of a training programsuggest being quickly achieved on older adults with a complete program. A casereport on one female patient, 60 years old, studied kinematic and EGM duringthe five rotator cuff tests of a patient with grade 9 on the VAS_Pain scale and57.80 for the disability of arm, shoulder and hand scale (DASH). The findings byROM and the recruitment order of activation of the four muscles, left and rightsides, in all tests. This suggests that pain symptom occurs in the right confirmingthe positive test. Through our studies, we hope to contribute to a betterunderstanding and planning of treatment painful shoulder injuries older adultparticipating in a group aquatic therapy program.