Stroke patients are more likely to be at risk of falling, which leads to limitation in their abilities to perform daily living activities and participate in society. The aim was to compare the relative effectiveness of three different treatment groups for improvements in postural control and for improvements in balance. Forty-five participants diagnosed with acquired brain injury, with over one year's evolution, were divided into a dry land therapy group (control group), an experimental group (Ai Chi aquatic therapy), and a combined group (therapy on dry land and aquatic therapy with Ai Chi). The Berg balance scale, tandem stance, the timed up and go test, and the five times sit-to-stand test were used. After twelve weeks of treatment, the results improved significantly for the combined therapy group (p < 0.01), and were significantly higher compared to the dry land therapy group (p < 0.01). In addition, improvements were also found in the aquatic Ai Chi therapy group. In conclusion, aquatic Ai Chi and/or the combination of aquatic therapy with dry land therapy is effective for the improvement of static and dynamic balance and for enhancing functional capacity, therefore, increasing the quality of life of acquired brain injury patients.
Keywords: aquatic therapy; balance; brain injury; gait; quality of life.