Article

OBJECTIVE: To assess the effectiveness of aquatic physical therapy in the
treatment of fibromyalgia. DATA SOURCES: The search strategy was undertaken using
the following databases, from 1950 to December 2012: MEDLINE, EMBASE, CINAHL,
LILACS, SCIELO, WEB OF SCIENCE, SCOPUS, SPORTDiscus, Cochrane Library Controlled Trials Register, Cochrane Disease Group Trials Register, PEDro and DARE. REVIEW
METHODS: The studies were separated into groups: Group I - aquatic physical
therapy x no treatment, Group II - aquatic physical therapy x land-based
exercises and Group III - aquatic physical therapy x other treatments. RESULTS:
Seventy-two abstracts were found, 27 of which met the inclusion criteria. For the
functional ability (Fibromyalgia Impact Questionnaire), three studies were
considered with a treatment time of more than 20 weeks and a mean difference (MD)
of -1.35 [-2.04; -0.67], P = 0.0001 was found in favour of the aquatic physical
therapy group versus no treatment. The same results were identified for stiffness
and the 6-minute walk test where two studies were pooled with an MD of -1.58
[-2.58; -0.58], P = 0.002 and 43.5 (metres) [3.8; 83.2], P = 0.03, respectively.
CONCLUSION: Three meta-analyses showed statistically significant results in
favour of the aquatic physical therapy (Fibromyalgia Impact Questionnaire,
stiffness and the 6-minute walk test) during a period of longer than 20 weeks.
Due to the low methodological rigor, the results were insufficient to demonstrate
statistical and clinical differences in most of the outcomes.

Langue : ANGLAIS