EFEITO DA FISIOTERAPIA AQUÁTICA NA CAPACIDADE FUNCIONAL, RIGIDEZ ARTICULAR, DOR E QUALIDADE DE VIDA EM IDOSOS COM OSTEOARTRITE DE JOELHO: PROTOCOLO DE ENSAIO CLÍNICO

Introduction: The high prevalence of knee osteoarthritis (OA) and its impact on functional capacity, joint damage, pain and quality of life justify the importance of developing clinical trials and appropriate and effective physiotherapeutic treatments for this clinical condition. Objective: The objective of this study is to investigate the effect of an aquatic physiotherapy program on functional capacity, joint stiffness, pain and quality of life in elderly individuals with knee osteoarthritis. Methods: This is a single-arm clinical trial with elderly individuals with knee osteoarthritis. Elderly volunteers of both sexes with knee osteoarthritis will be recruited and submitted to the following tests and assessment measures: Timed Up And Go (TUG), Sit and Stand Test (Rikli and Jones - Senior Fitness Test), WHOQOL Quality of Life Questionnaire - bref, WOMAC Questionnaire and Lequesne Algofunctional Questionnaire. The aquatic physiotherapy program (APT) will last 6 weeks, with a frequency of two days per week and 45 minutes per session, and will consist of three components: a) Flexibility, b) Warm-up, and c) Muscle training. All tests and assessment measures will be carried out at two moments: M1 - moment 1 (pre-intervention) and M2 - moment 2 (post-intervention), after six weeks of the aquatic physiotherapy program. Data normality will be verified using the Shapiro-Wilk test. Normal data will be expressed as mean and standard deviation, using parametric tests. Data with non-normal distribution will be expressed as median, maximum and minimum values, using non-parametric tests. In all tests, a result will be considered statistically significant when p < 0.05. Data analysis will be performed with the assistance of a statistician.