Many physical therapist use the technique of hydrotherapy, the use of water, to treat disease or maintain health. The buoyancy, warmth and effects of turbulence of water help to haste recovery, alleviate pain, relax tension in the tissues, and calm the nervous system. In the case of this research article, the effects of hydrotherapy were observed in patients who received total knew arthroplasty. Upon receiving this orthopedic surgery, it is necessary for patients to regain muscle strength and mobilization of joints. They also require proper balance and coordination, as well as pain relief and relaxation. However, in this study the effects of hydrotherapy were aimed at observing gait characteristics, such as the measure of speed, evaluating the stance and swing duration on both sides, measuring the step length, and the comparing the steps on both sides.
A total of 18 patients were analyzed in this study, 5 men and 13 women. The mean age of the subjects was 69.2 years and the mean value of time between the arthroplasty operation and the beginning of hydrotherapy was 13.1 days. Out of the 18 patients, 9 had right total knee arthroplasty and remaining 9 had left total knee arthroplasty. To serve as the control group the experimenters obtained 18 age-matched healthy volunteers. The hydrotherapy treatment lasted for, on average, 18.4 days, in a 6-day per week schedule. The sessions began with measuring the speed of a two meter self-paced walk. Following this, the stride was recorded using a TV camera through a large underwater window. The patients were then asked to reverse the route while a new stride on the opposite side was documented. Each individual, in addition to receive hydrotherapy, were giving gym therapy. To the eighteen healthy volunteers, the Shapiro-Wilk’s W for normality was applied
The results for underwater gait for surgical patients had a mean speed of 912m/h compared
to 1400m/h presented by the control group. However, as...