2017 Volume 2017 Issue 1 Pages 28-34
The interaction between the body system and a microgravity environment influences the biomechanical behaviors allowing the reorganization of sensorimotor relations through “unique” stimulation of the functional hierarchies of the central nervous system, thus changing the motor gesture as a whole. The physical characteristics of the aquatic environment can be exploited by the rehabilitative operator to achieve specific muscle, neurological and sensory recovery with different modality and times compared to the techniques used in a dry environment, stimulating the re-acquisition of neuromotor-sensory skills impaired or even lost. The purpose of the study is to evaluate the effectiveness of a rehabilitation protocol in the thermal aquatic environment, on postural parameters, gait, balance, and autonomy on the disabled patient. 50 subjects (mean age 48.5 years) were evaluated and treated because of the suffering of neuromotor cognitive and/or mental disabilities. Subjects underwent two evaluations, before and after a rehabilitation protocol in aquatic environment, consisting of 20 therapy sessions in thermal water, made of a physiatric specialistic examination, administration of FIM and Tinetti SCALE and Computerized Postural assessment without markers (Sa.BB Imaging), in order to assess the effects of the protocol on the health status of the patient, evaluating the ADL, balance and postural parameters and if these three data show a correlation in clinical practice. Considering the scores of the FIM scale, neurological patients went from a score of 84,323 to 97,29 after 20 sessions of treatment (p=0.0487). Patients with mental disabilities increased from a score of 76,895 to 94,63 (p = 0.0383). In all patients the FIM scale score increased from 82,692 to 95,75 (p = 0.0107). Gait and balance, evaluated through the Tinetti scale, improved from 20,105 to 24,474 (p=0.04) for patients with mental disabilities and from 11,774 to 13,742 (p = 0.4688) for patients with neuromotor disabilities. In all patients the Tinetti score rose from 13,385 to 17,885 (p = 0.4688). These data were validated by the improvements achieved at the postural level, particularly in the values concerning the anteposition of the head, important for the distribution of the load in the polygon of support; also supported by the reduction of the lateral side oscillations of the pelvis. We can conclude that the technique used resulted in a great increase of postural and functional parameters of the subjects of the study.
