Aquatic therapy in pediatrics: annotated bibliography

Abstract

"Aquatic therapy" refers to therapeutic intervention taking place in water. The purpose of this review is to summarize the published articles in the rehabilitation literature from 1979 through 1999 that relate to the use of aquatic therapy as an intervention for children and adolescents with neuromuscular and musculoskeletal diagnoses. Despite the trend toward evidence-based practice, a paucity of literature exists related to aquatic therapy for children. Most of the available articles are case reports and other descriptions of clinical practice. The research reports are limited in design and scope, and subjects had a wide variety of ages and diagnoses.