Aquatic physical therapy reduces pain, improves functional fitness and quality of life of older people with knee osteoarthritis: Randomized controlled trial
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.62827/fb.v27i2.1152Keywords:
Hydrotherapy; Chronic Pain; Range of Motion.Abstract
Introduction: Aquatic therapy promotes short-term benefits for patients with knee osteoarthritis, the first therapeutic option for the elderly with this pathological condition. Objective: Investigate the effects of an aquatic physical therapy program on pain intensity, functional fitness and quality of life in older people with knee osteoarthritis. Methods: This was a two-arm parallel randomized controlled clinical trial with older people with knee osteoarthritis. The volunteers were divided into: water group (WG; n = 18), who were subjected to the intervention, and control group (CG; n = 15), who were not subjected to any kind of intervention. Data collection consisted of the evaluation of the perception of pain by visual analog scale with application of nociceptive stimuli at four anatomical points of the knee, functional fitness tests, and application of the WHOQOL-bref and WOMAC questionnaires, pre- and post-intervention. The program lasted 12 weeks, periodicity of three times a week, 40 minutes per session, water temperature maintained at 33o C and consisted of aerobic and functional exercises in the form of circuit training. Results: There was a reduction in pain intensity in the articular interline and medial femoral condoyle of the left knee, increased flexibility, improvement in the dynamic balance, pain and physical function domains of WOMAC and environmental domain of WHOQOL-bref. Conclusion: We conclude that the aquatic physical therapy promoted reduction of pain intensity, improved functional fitness and quality of life in older people with knee osteoarthritis.
References
Ginkel AV, Bennell KL, Campbell PK, Wrigley TV, Hunter DJ, Hinman RS. Location of knee pain in medial knee osteoarthritis: patterns and associations with self-reported clinical symptoms. Osteoarthritis Cartilage. 2016;24:1135-1142.
Ratzlaff CR, Liang MH. Prevention of injury-related knee osteoarthritis: opportunities for primary and secondary prevention. Arthritis Res Ther. 2010;12:215.
Barker AL, Talevski J, Morello RT, Brand CA, Rahmann AE, Urquhart DM. Effectiveness of aquatic exercise for musculoskeletal conditions: a meta-analysis. Arch Phys Med Rehabil. 2014;95:1776-1786.
Waller B, Slodownik AO, Vitor M, Lambeck J, Daly D, Kujala UM, Heinonen A. Effect of therapeutic aquatic exercise on symptoms and function associated with lower limb osteoarthritis: systematic review with meta-analysis. Phys Ther. 2014;94:1383-1395.
Marx FC, Oliveira LM, Bellini CG, Ribeiro MCC. Tradução e validação cultural do questionário algofuncional de Lequesne para osteoartrite de joelhos e quadris para a língua portuguesa. Rev Bras Reumatol. 2006;46:253-260.
Foley A, Halbert J, Hewitt T, Crotty M. Does hydrotherapy improve strength and physical function in patients with osteoarthritis? Ann Rheum Dis. 2003;62:1162-1167.
Hollow HS. The Hat [Internet]. Covington; 2012 [cited 2016 Apr 24]. Available from: http://www.harmonyhollow.net/hat.shtml
Fleck MPA, Louzada S, Xavier M, Chachamovich E, Vieira G, Santos L, Pinzon V. Application of the Portuguese version of WHOQOL-bref. Rev Saude Publica. 2000;34:178-183.
Fernandes MI, Ferraz MB, Ciconelli RM. Tradução e validação do questionário WOMAC para língua portuguesa. Rev Paul Reumatol. 2003;10:25.
Bellamy N, Buchanan WW, Goldsmith CH, Campbell J, Stitt LW. Validation study of WOMAC. J Rheumatol. 1988;15:1833-1840.
Ferreira-Valente MA, Pais-Ribeiro JL, Jensen MP. Validity of four pain intensity rating scales. Pain. 2011;152:2399-2404.
Podsiadlo D, Richardson S. The timed “Up & Go”. J Am Geriatr Soc. 1991;39:142-148.
Wells KF, Dillon EK. The sit and reach. Res Q Exerc Sport. 1952;23:115-118.
Alcalde GE, Fonseca AC, Bôscoa TF, Gonçalves MR, Bernardo GC, Pianna B, Carnavale BF, Gimenes C, Barrile SR, Arca EA. Effect of aquatic physical therapy in older people with knee osteoarthritis. Trials. 2017;18:1-6.
Torres-Ronda L, Alcázar XS. The properties of water and their applications for training. J Hum Kinet. 2014;44:237-248.
Longpre HS, Maly MR. Identifying exercises appropriate for people with knee osteoarthritis. Osteoarthritis Cartilage. 2014;22:455.
Bartels EM, Lund H, Hagen KB, Dagfinrud H, Christensen R, Danneskiold-Samsoe B. Aquatic exercise for knee and hip osteoarthritis. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2007;(4):CD005523.
Nekouei P, Sadeghi-Demneh E, Mahdavinejad R, Jafarian M. Effects of aquatic exercise on pain and function. Arch Phys Med Rehabil. 2015;96:104-105.
Arca EA, Fiorelli A, De Vitta A, Ximenes MA, Gimenes C, Andreo JC. Efetividade do programa de fisioterapia aquática. Rev Kairós Gerontol. 2013;16:73-82.
Tacks J, Carpenter MG, Garland SJ, Hunt MA. Factors associated with dynamic balance. Arch Phys Med Rehabil. 2015;96:1873-1879.
Gomes-Neto M, Araujo AD, Junqueira IDA, Oliveira D, Brasileiro A, Arcanjo FL. Capacidade funcional e qualidade de vida em idosos com OA. Rev Bras Reumatol. 2016;56:126-130.
Kim IS, Chung SH, Park WJ, Kang HY. Effectiveness of an aquarobic exercise program. Appl Nurs Res. 2012;25:181-189.
Kluthcovsky ACGC, Kluthcovsky FA. O WHOQOL-bref: revisão sistemática. Rev Psiquiatr. 2009;31:1-12.
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2026 Guilherme Eleutério Alcalde, Bruna Pianna, Thais Fernanda Bôscoa Gallassi, Karina Graziela Paccola Alcalde, Fabio Alexandre Casarin Pastor, Manuelly Francine Lopes, Maria Giulia Eguea Chiachio , Eduardo Aguilar Arca (Autor)
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Autores que publicam nesta revista concordam com os seguintes termos:
Autores mantém os direitos autorais e concedem à revista o direito de primeira publicação, com o trabalho simultaneamente licenciado sob a Licença Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 que permite o compartilhamento do trabalho com reconhecimento da autoria e publicação inicial nesta revista.
Autores têm autorização para distribuição não-exclusiva da versão do trabalho publicada nesta revista (ex.: publicar em repositório institucional ou como capítulo de livro), com reconhecimento de autoria e publicação inicial nesta revista.
