Comparison of active exercises and relaxation technique supervised in aquatic medium in elderly.

Introduction: Aquatic physiotherapy is indicated to prevent, maintain, retard and improve the physical and psychological dysfunctions of aging. The study aims to analyze and compare aquatic exercise and aquatic relaxation techniques in the elderly. Methods and Materials: A randomized controlled clinical trial was conducted. The population was composed of 18 elderly, allocated in the aquatic exercise group (GEA) and aquatic relaxation group (GRA). Blood pressure was measured in all the visits, to evaluate the pain we used the visual analogue scale (VAS), the stress measured by the perceived stress scale (PSS14), the force verified by the manual grip test (FPM), physical fitness evaluated by the six-minute walk test (6MWT) and the flexibility measured by the finger-ground test. We used the Mann-Whitney test (p <0.05) to analyze the effect of the intervention using the Wilcoxon test (p <0.05). For the evaluation of blood pressure throughout the intervention, linear regression of the means and Kruskal-Wallis test (p <0.05) were performed. Results: Aquatic physiotherapy was effective in reducing the stress (p = 0.013 and p = 0.012), in the FPM (p = 0.011 and p = 0.002), and in the stress reduction (p = 0.012 and p = 0.012). and systolic blood pressure (p = 0.046 and p = 0.005). There was no significant effect on the distance of the 6MWT (p = 0.317 and p = 0.083) and flexibility (p = 0.128 and p = 0.097) in the groups. Final Considerations: Both interventions showed benefits for the elderly in the stress, FPM, pain and SBP, and there was no difference between the groups.Introdução: A fisioterapia aquática é indicada para prevenir, manter, retardar e melhorar as disfunções físicas e psicológicas do envelhecimento. O estudo tem como objetivo geral analisar e comparar o exercício aquático e técnicas de relaxamento aquático em idosos. Métodos e Materiais: Realizou-se um ensaio clínico controlado randomizado. A população foi composta por 18 idosos, alocados no grupo de exercício aquático (GEA) e grupo de relaxamento aquático (GRA). A pressão arterial foi mensurada em todos os atendimentos, para avaliar a dor utilizamos a escala visual analógica (EVA), o estresse mensurado pela escala de estresse percebido (PSS14), a força verificada pelo teste de preensão manual (FPM), a aptidão física avaliada pelo teste de caminhada de seis minutos (TC6) e a flexibilidade medida pelo teste do dedo-chão. Para comparação das variáveis entre os grupos utilizamos o teste de Mann-Whitney (p<0,05), para análise do efeito da intervenção utilizamos o teste de Wilcoxon (p<0,05). Para avaliação da pressão arterial ao longo da intervenção foi realizada regressão linear das médias e teste de Kruskal-Wallis (p