Effects of Watsu Therapy on Quality of Life for Children with Cerebral Palsy
In this study, the authors compared the effects of Immersion and Watsu® therapy protocols on children with cerebral palsy. It was found that in comparison to Immersion, Watsu therapy significantly improved the gross motor performance as well as quality of life of children with cerebral palsy.
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Tufekcioglu, E., Konukman, F., Kaya, F., Arslan, D., Ozan, G., Erzeybek, M.S., & Al-Sawi, E.A. (2021). The effects of Aquatic Watsu Therapy on Gross Motor Performance and Quality of Life for Children with Cerebral Palsy. Montenegrin Journal of Sports Science and Medicine, 10 (2), 25-30. doi: 10.26773/mjssm.210904
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 cross-over 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 cur-rent 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 man-agement of CP.
Keywords: Watsu®, cerebral palsy, immersion, motor function, quality of life