Article

A 54-year-old woman, retired due to progressive cognitive decline, was diagnosed
with early-onset Alzheimer dementia. Conventional medication therapy for dementia
had proven futile. Initial evaluation revealed a nonverbal female seated in a
wheelchair, dependent on 2-person assist for all transfers and activities of
daily living. She had been either nonresponsive or actively resistive for both
activities of daily living and transfers in the 6 months before assessment. After
a total of 17 1-hour therapy sessions over 19 weeks in a warm water therapy pool,
she achieved the ability to tread water for 15 minutes, transfers improved to
moderate-to-maximum assist from seated, and ambulation improved to 1000 feet with
minimum-to-moderate assist
of 2 persons. Communication increased to appropriate
"yes," "no," and "okay" appropriate responses, and an occasional "thank you" and
"very nice." The authors propose that her clinical progress may be related to her
aquatic therapy intervention. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: IV.
CI - Copyright (c) 2018 American Academy of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation.
Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Langue : ANGLAIS