Systematic Review of Aquatic Exercise Programming for Children and Adolescents with Cerebral Palsy

Abstract

Hydrotherapy is considered as a form of treatment in children with cerebral palsy by using the buoyancy for exercise to make children have more freedom than land-based physical activities. Previous literatures still have the limitations of quality and searching techniques were not covering the entire databases. There were not clear and no reliable conclusions about hydrotherapy’s effectiveness and clinical applications. Researcher aims to review the literatures according to ICF-CY for clinical applications, useful for further research and practice. Eighteen articles met the criteria for inclusion and there were 3 articles in final analysis. It was shown that the previous studies were not enough to verify the effectiveness of hydrotherapy. The further study should be design the clinically relevant program for hydrotherapy in a specific purpose for children with cerebral palsy, a low level of mobility (GMFCS IV-V) and long-term follow-up treatment considerations.

Keywords

• Hydrotherapy
• Aquatic exercise
• Swimming
• Cerebral palsy