Tufekcioglu, Ertan; Konukman, Ferman; Kaya, Fatih; Arslan, Duran; Ozan, Goksel; Erzeybek, Mustafa Sait; Al-Sawi, Esam A.

The purpose of this study was to compare the effects of Immersion and Watsu® therapy protocols on children with cerebral palsy. Gross motor function (GMF), spasticity (MAS), and Quality of Life (QoL) parameters of twenty-three children (age: 7.5±2.8, BMI: 17±3.7) were measured. Subjects received Watsu® therapy and Immersion protocols in Watsu-Immersion (W-I, n=12) and Immersion-Watsu (I-W n=11) groups in different periods based on a crossover design. The subjects received sessions for 30 minutes twice a week during 10-week experimental periods. The results were investigated with independent sample t-test and Wilcoxon rank-sum tests, which showed that there was no evidence of carryover effects in GMFM 88 and QoL. In contrast, Watsu® improved GMFM 88 (p<0.05), Quality of Life (p<0.05), and MAS-Upper spasticity (p<0.05), scores significantly compared to immersion. The current results demonstrated the specific benefits of Watsu® therapy on children with CP, confirming the previous anecdotal reports. We recommend Watsu® as a safe and well-accepted complementary intervention for the management of CP.