Beneficios de la hidrocinesiterapia en adultos mayores que asisten al centro N.º 6 del cantón Pedro Carbo.

Abstract

Aging affects all individuals, deteriorating their physical capabilities. Hydrokinesiotherapy can assess, compare, and improve or maintain these changes. Objective: To determine the benefits of hydrokinesiotherapy on functional physical capabilities and instrumental activities of daily living in older adults. Materials and methods: It is a quantitative, pre-experimental and longitudinal research with 48 older adults from Center No. 6 of the Pedro Carbo canton. The Senior Fitness Test battery and the Lawton and Brody Scale were used, an intervention of 2 months, 21 sessions, 45 minutes each session in the pool was carried out performing muscle strengthening exercises, pool walking, balance, coordination and flexibility exercises. Results: 31.25% of the population corresponds to the male gender and 68.75% to the female gender, both groups showed improvements obtaining a (P<.00005) with a confidence interval of 95%. In the averages, in women in the upper limb strength test it improved ↑26.19%, followed by hamstring flexibility ↑23.26%, agility and coordination ↓20.29% while men showed a greater change in the lower limb strength tests ↑22.41%, agility and coordination ↓21.29%. In the shoulder flexibility tests in women ↑11.42% and in men ↑12.40%, hamstring flexibility in men ↑10.22%, in upper limb strength in men ↑18.36% and in women ↑15.78%. Conclusion: Hydrokinesitherapy is an effective method to promote independence, improve or maintain physical capacity in older adults.