The Effects of Aquatic Watsu Therapy on Gross Motor Performance and Quality of Life for Children with Cerebral Palsy

Ertan Tufekcioglu; Ferman Konukman; Fatih Kaya; Duran Arslan; Goksel Ozan; Mustafa Sait Erzeybek; Esam A. Al-Sawi

doi:10.26773/mjssm.210904

The Effects of Aquatic Watsu Therapy on Gross Motor Performance and Quality of Life for Children with Cerebral Palsy

Ertan Tufekcioglu, Ferman Konukman^*, Fatih Kaya, Duran Arslan, Goksel Ozan, Mustafa Sait Erzeybek, Esam A. Al-Sawi

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

11 Scopus citations

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to compare the effects of Immersion and Watsu® therapy protocols on children with cerebral palsy. Gross motor function (GMF), spasticity (MAS), and Quality of Life (QoL) parameters of twenty-three children (age: 7.5±2.8, BMI: 17±3.7) were measured. Subjects received Watsu® therapy and Immersion protocols in Watsu-Immersion (W-I, n=12) and Immersion-Watsu (I-W n=11) groups in different periods based on a crossover design. The subjects received sessions for 30 minutes twice a week during 10-week experimental periods. The results were investigated with independent sample t-test and Wilcoxon rank-sum tests, which showed that there was no evidence of carryover effects in GMFM 88 and QoL. In contrast, Watsu® improved GMFM 88 (p<0.05), Quality of Life (p<0.05), and MAS-Upper spasticity (p<0.05), scores significantly compared to immersion. The current results demonstrated the specific benefits of Watsu® therapy on children with CP, confirming the previous anecdotal reports. We recommend Watsu® as a safe and well-accepted complementary intervention for the management of CP.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	25-30
Number of pages	6
Journal	Montenegrin Journal of Sports Science and Medicine
Volume	10
Issue number	2
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.26773/mjssm.210904
State	Published - 2021

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2021. by the author(s). License MSA, Podgorica, Montenegro. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY).

Keywords

Watsu®
cerebral palsy
immersion
motor function
quality of life

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Orthopedics and Sports Medicine
Physical Therapy, Sports Therapy and Rehabilitation
Rehabilitation

Access to Document

10.26773/mjssm.210904

Cite this

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title = "The Effects of Aquatic Watsu Therapy on Gross Motor Performance and Quality of Life for Children with Cerebral Palsy",

abstract = "The purpose of this study was to compare the effects of Immersion and Watsu{\textregistered} therapy protocols on children with cerebral palsy. Gross motor function (GMF), spasticity (MAS), and Quality of Life (QoL) parameters of twenty-three children (age: 7.5±2.8, BMI: 17±3.7) were measured. Subjects received Watsu{\textregistered} therapy and Immersion protocols in Watsu-Immersion (W-I, n=12) and Immersion-Watsu (I-W n=11) groups in different periods based on a crossover design. The subjects received sessions for 30 minutes twice a week during 10-week experimental periods. The results were investigated with independent sample t-test and Wilcoxon rank-sum tests, which showed that there was no evidence of carryover effects in GMFM 88 and QoL. In contrast, Watsu{\textregistered} improved GMFM 88 (p<0.05), Quality of Life (p<0.05), and MAS-Upper spasticity (p<0.05), scores significantly compared to immersion. The current results demonstrated the specific benefits of Watsu{\textregistered} therapy on children with CP, confirming the previous anecdotal reports. We recommend Watsu{\textregistered} as a safe and well-accepted complementary intervention for the management of CP.",

keywords = "Watsu{\textregistered}, cerebral palsy, immersion, motor function, quality of life",

author = "Ertan Tufekcioglu and Ferman Konukman and Fatih Kaya and Duran Arslan and Goksel Ozan and Erzeybek, \{Mustafa Sait\} and Al-Sawi, \{Esam A.\}",

note = "Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2021. by the author(s). License MSA, Podgorica, Montenegro. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY).",

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AU - Tufekcioglu, Ertan

AU - Konukman, Ferman

AU - Kaya, Fatih

AU - Arslan, Duran

AU - Ozan, Goksel

AU - Erzeybek, Mustafa Sait

AU - Al-Sawi, Esam A.

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PY - 2021

Y1 - 2021

N2 - The purpose of this study was to compare the effects of Immersion and Watsu® therapy protocols on children with cerebral palsy. Gross motor function (GMF), spasticity (MAS), and Quality of Life (QoL) parameters of twenty-three children (age: 7.5±2.8, BMI: 17±3.7) were measured. Subjects received Watsu® therapy and Immersion protocols in Watsu-Immersion (W-I, n=12) and Immersion-Watsu (I-W n=11) groups in different periods based on a crossover design. The subjects received sessions for 30 minutes twice a week during 10-week experimental periods. The results were investigated with independent sample t-test and Wilcoxon rank-sum tests, which showed that there was no evidence of carryover effects in GMFM 88 and QoL. In contrast, Watsu® improved GMFM 88 (p<0.05), Quality of Life (p<0.05), and MAS-Upper spasticity (p<0.05), scores significantly compared to immersion. The current results demonstrated the specific benefits of Watsu® therapy on children with CP, confirming the previous anecdotal reports. We recommend Watsu® as a safe and well-accepted complementary intervention for the management of CP.

AB - The purpose of this study was to compare the effects of Immersion and Watsu® therapy protocols on children with cerebral palsy. Gross motor function (GMF), spasticity (MAS), and Quality of Life (QoL) parameters of twenty-three children (age: 7.5±2.8, BMI: 17±3.7) were measured. Subjects received Watsu® therapy and Immersion protocols in Watsu-Immersion (W-I, n=12) and Immersion-Watsu (I-W n=11) groups in different periods based on a crossover design. The subjects received sessions for 30 minutes twice a week during 10-week experimental periods. The results were investigated with independent sample t-test and Wilcoxon rank-sum tests, which showed that there was no evidence of carryover effects in GMFM 88 and QoL. In contrast, Watsu® improved GMFM 88 (p<0.05), Quality of Life (p<0.05), and MAS-Upper spasticity (p<0.05), scores significantly compared to immersion. The current results demonstrated the specific benefits of Watsu® therapy on children with CP, confirming the previous anecdotal reports. We recommend Watsu® as a safe and well-accepted complementary intervention for the management of CP.

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KW - immersion

KW - motor function

KW - quality of life

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The Effects of Aquatic Watsu Therapy on Gross Motor Performance and Quality of Life for Children with Cerebral Palsy

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Keywords

ASJC Scopus subject areas

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