Efeitos da Terapia Aquática sobre o Desempenho Físico e Respiratório em Idosos da Comunidade

Abstract

This is a master's dissertation composed by an article that will be submitted to the journal "Brazilian of Geriatrics and Gerontology", entitled "Effects of aquatic therapy on physical and respiratory performance in the elderly community." A experimental study, before-and-after, non-control study was conducted to evaluate the effects of a Halliwick Method-based aquatic therapy protocol in the elderly, this protocol was performed for 12 weeks (24 sessions), with two sessions Weekly, where each session was 50 minutes. The following instruments were used: the Bomfaq questionnaire, to evaluate the social, demographic and functional characteristics of the studied sample, this questionnaire was applied before the protocol was applied, the six-minute walk test, to evaluate the physical and functional performance of the sample. 64 elderly participants, this test was performed before and after application of the protocol and the spirometry test, to evaluate respiratory performance also before and after the application of the proposed protocol. According to the results, the majority of participants were female (87.3%), mostly white (54.1%), born in the rural area (47.5%), born in the urban area as well 47.5 per cent), married or widowed (84.2 per cent), with children (76.7 per cent), were living with a primary education (69.8 per cent). Most of the elderly participants had retirement as their main source of income (56.5%), reported that their financial situation met their basic needs well (70.2%). Almost half did not present difficulties to perform functional activities (48.4%), especially those that needed to move arms and legs. The majority reported not having suffered a fall in the last year (46%), and a majority did not report fractures (81%), used medications regularly indicated by the physician (77.6%), reported having no difficulty acquiring such drugs (71.2%). Regarding physical performance, the majority reported having no difficulty walking alone at home (82.3%) or outside the home environment (74.2%). According to the results, it was verified after the application of the protocol of aquatic therapy during 12 weeks (24 sessions) with the Halliwick Method, that the participants presented increased parameters related to respiratory performance (spirometry): Forced Vital Capacity (FVC l/min) (p <0.001), Forced Vital Capacity Percentual (FVC%) (p = 0.017), Forced Expired Volume in the first second (FEV1 1 / min) (p = 0.002), Forced Expired Volume in the first second (FEV1%) (0.013). Regarding the physical-functional performance, significant differences were found after the treatment when compared to the initial distance traveled and the distance covered after the aquatic rehabilitation protocol (p = 0.003). It was concluded that the protocol used was effective both for the respiratory performance of the elderly and for the physical and functional performance, being an important ally in the maintenance of health, prevention of respiratory dysfunctions, preventing diseases due to aging