THE EFFICACY OF AQUATIC THERAPY FOR MULTIPLE SCLEROSIS PATIENTS
This study reviews the literature on Aquatic Therapy and its general effects on patients with Multiple Sclerosis (MS) in order to evaluate the effectiveness of this form of rehabilitation for MS patients. So that the study may be fully understood, some background is needed regarding MS. This background is provided here with a discussion of the basic nature of the disease and its symptoms, its probable causes, its diagnosis, and general treatment.
The nature of MS has been discussed by Giovannoni and Miller (1999) who state that MS is one of the most common diseases of the central nervous system in young adults. Sclerosis are "scars" such as plaques or lesions in the brain and spinal cord. The condition is, according to Giovannoni and Miller, best defined as a progressive disease in which scattered patches of the protective myelin covering of the nerve fibers in the central nervous system (brain and spine) are damaged or destroyed. Inflammation and loss of myelin causes disruption to nerve transmission and affects many functions of the body.
While there are some relatively common symptoms associated with MS (e.g., difficulty in walking, abnormal sensations such as numbness or a feeling of "pins and needles," and pain and loss of vision due to inflammation of the optic nerve), other symptoms can include: tremor, incoordination, slurred speech, sudden onset of paralysis, similar to a stroke, and declines in the abilities to think, reason, and remember (Feinstein, 1999).
Schwarz (1999) states that it is useful to divide multiple sclerosis symptoms into primary, secondary and tertiary categories. Primary symptoms, according to Schwarz, are the direct result of the destruction of the fatty myelin sheath that surrounds and insulates nerve fibers in the central nervous system. This impairs transmission of nerve impulses to muscles and other organs. The symptoms...