Hydrotherapy on dynamic balance and in activities of daily living in patients withneurotoxoplasmosis associated with the acquired immune deficiency syndrome

INTRODUCTION: For compromising the defense cells of the body, the Human Immunodeficiency Virus makes the individual vulnerable to the emergence of various diseases, including the neurotoxoplasmosis. OBJECTIVE: To determine the effect of a hydrotherapy protocol in dynamic balance and the activities ofdaily living of patients with cerebral toxoplasmosis associated with the Acquired Immuno Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS). METHODS: 15 volunteers participated, three (20%) were female and 12 of them (80%) were male; mean age 37.44±5.5 years, diagnosed with cerebral toxoplasmosis resulting from AIDS registered in Specialized Reference Unit on Infectious Diseases Parasitic Infectious Specials. Underwent evaluation of dynamic balance by the Dynamic Gait Index and the activities of daily living by Barthel Index, pre and post hydrotherapy, in the pool at an average temperature of 35°C, 3 times per week on alternate days, lasting 50 minutes, a total of 8 weeksor 24 sessions. We used the Shapiro-Wilk test for analysis of the Dynamic Gait Index and Barthel Index variances, and T Student test for pre and post-treatment comparison and significance level of α=0.05. RESULTS: Total score of dynamic balance presented statistically significance (p<0.0001), comparison post-test (20.3±2.5) compared to pre-test (13.2±3.2). As for the activities of daily living was evidenced statistically significant value (p=0.049),and the post-test (98.8±2.2) compared to pre-test (95.6±3.9). CONCLUSION: In this study, hydrotherapy protocol improved the dynamic balance and the activities of daily living of patients with cerebral toxoplasmosis associated with AIDS.