1446 - The Efficacy of Aquatic Therapy For Stroke Rehabilitation: A Literature Review

Objectives: Aquatic therapy is a popular rehabilitation method for post-stroke patients. Using water as a tool to develop strength, flexibility, and balance enables patients to enhance their function and avoid the potential adverse effects of other weight-bearing exercises. This review was performed to assess the efficacy of aquatic therapy for patients undergoing stroke rehabilitation.

Design: 11 articles including RCTs, clinical trials, and case series were reviewed regarding aquatic therapy in patients undergoing stroke rehabilitation. A PubMed search included the following keywords combined into various phrases: “stroke,” “rehabilitation,” “aquatic,” and “therapy”. Studies that involved primarily aquatic therapy for patients undergoing stroke rehabilitation were included and studies that did not involve aquatic therapy or stroke rehabilitation as the primary condition and intervention were excluded.

Results: Numerous studies exist that evaluate aquatic therapy treatment outcomes in patients undergoing stroke rehabilitation, greatly varying in power and quality. The majority of included trials and studies found that there was an improvement in function compared to control in patients undergoing aquatic therapy, although only 2 studies found that there was an improvement when compared to land-based therapy. Overall, the majority of trials included found that aquatic based-therapy was well tolerated with minimal to no adverse outcomes. Some studies stated that patients had a decreased likelihood of developing depression and anxiety when engaging in aquatic therapy post-stroke.

Conclusions: Aquatic therapy has a promising future for stroke rehabilitation with a low-risk intervention, with the potential to improve a large variety of outcome measures, including balance, mobility and mental health. Ongoing research will refine understanding of aquatic therapies' role in post-stroke rehabilitation.