Effectiveness of hydrotherapy and kinesiotherapy in elderly patients with history of falls

The functional rehabilitation of elderly fallers is an objective of physicaltherapy. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness ofhydrotherapy and kinesiotherapy protocols in balance, agility andheight in falling elder ones. We evaluated 14 elderly patients withhistory of falls. The outcome measures were the Berg Balance Scalescore, Timed up & go and height. The participants were randomlydivided in two groups: G1, treated with hydrotherapy, G2 treatedwith kinesiotherapy. The experimental intervention was a 40-minutesession per day, 2 days per week for 2 months. Data were statisticallyanalyzed by the Kruskal-Wallis and Mann-Whitney-Wilcoxtests. Comparing the two groups, it was found that both groupsincreased Berg Balance Scale and decreased Timed Up & Goand there is a significance in stature after the implementation of theprotocol. However, there were no statistical differences between thetwo groups. In conclusion, this study suggests hydrotherapy andkinesiotherapy are effective for improving balance and agility in thesample of participants, reducing the decline in functional capacityinherent to the aging.