Zeitschrift für Down-Syndrom und Chromosomenanomalien
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Comparative Study on Aquatic Therapy vs Exercise for Toddlers with Trisomy 21 (Down’s Syndrome)

Priya C, Surekha R, Srilakshmi R, Mithula V

Background: Down’s syndrome (DS) is a common genetic disorder which has the incidence is about 23000/yr live births in India. In comparison to normal children, Down’s syndrome Children have weak hip abductors and knee extensors. Maintaining a state of equilibrium is limited or compromised in children with mild to moderate levels of motor impairment. Swimming is one of the best ways to maintain and improve the motor fitness in low IQ level individuals with Down’s syndrome. This study is to analyze the aquatic therapy session in comparison with the regular physiotherapy session with assistance of physiotherapist. The comparison is gauged using various observations.

Materials and methods: This is a single center study and children with Down’s syndrome aged 6 months to 4 years, confirmed by Karyotyping or genetic analysis will be selected for data collection. The criterion for subject selection is children with Down’s syndrome having complete neck control without medical issues. This study is to see the difference in outcome of treatment methods used. Study group and the control group receive the same set of physiotherapy exercise for 5 days a week except that the study group gets aquatic sessions in addition to exercise for 2 days a week. A questionnaire is used for assessment to know the physical development of the child before the study at 0 week and 6 weeks later.

Results: Our study results revealed most of the parameters studied on the Down’s syndrome children namely sitting, creeping, standing, crawling, pushing, moving, walking and kicking improved significantly (p<0.01) on Down’s Syndrome children who underwent both exercise and aqua therapy when compared to children who did only exercise.

Conclusion: Combination of water and land exercise is an effective strategy to improve daily activities in Down syndrome children. It was noted that combination of exercise and aqua therapy showed significant improvement in many motor parameters in Down’s syndrome children.