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The Long-Term Adaptations of a Combined Swimming and Aquatic Therapy Intervention in an Adult Person with High-Functioning Autism (Asperger’s Syndrome): A Case Study

Individuals with High-Functioning Autism present impairments in communication, social interaction, and motor development. A low level of motor skills, namely difficulties in gross and fine mobility, and in motor control, discourage individuals with High-Functioning Autism from being involved in phys...

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Autores principales: Koumenidou, Maria, Kotzamanidou, Mariana C., Panoutsakopoulos, Vassilios, Siaperas, Panagiotis, Misailidou, Victoria, Tsalis, George A.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2023
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10671614/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37998478
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/healthcare11222986
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author Koumenidou, Maria
Kotzamanidou, Mariana C.
Panoutsakopoulos, Vassilios
Siaperas, Panagiotis
Misailidou, Victoria
Tsalis, George A.
author_facet Koumenidou, Maria
Kotzamanidou, Mariana C.
Panoutsakopoulos, Vassilios
Siaperas, Panagiotis
Misailidou, Victoria
Tsalis, George A.
author_sort Koumenidou, Maria
collection PubMed
description Individuals with High-Functioning Autism present impairments in communication, social interaction, and motor development. A low level of motor skills, namely difficulties in gross and fine mobility, and in motor control, discourage individuals with High-Functioning Autism from being involved in physical activities, resulting in fewer opportunities for social interaction. There is not much evidence available about the effects of regular swimming exercise and/or aquatic therapy on health promotion in adults with High-Functioning Autism. An adult male (22 yrs) diagnosed with High-Functioning Autism participated in a combined 6-month swimming and aquatic therapy program (two sessions/week, 60 min each). The pre- and post-intervention assessments consisted of physical fitness, balance, functional ability, and psychomotor tests. The post-intervention assessments showed improvements in the standing long jump (+100%), hand grip force (+71.7%), bend arm hang test (+123.1%), and the physiological parameters in the 6 min walk test (+10.2%). On the opposite, decrements in the sit-up (−12%) and sit-and-reach test (−6.3%) were observed. It was noted that the participant frequently lost interest and focus quickly, resulting in the abandonment of the exercise. Conclusively, there is a great need for further research on this topic examining a larger adult population.
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spelling pubmed-106716142023-11-19 The Long-Term Adaptations of a Combined Swimming and Aquatic Therapy Intervention in an Adult Person with High-Functioning Autism (Asperger’s Syndrome): A Case Study Koumenidou, Maria Kotzamanidou, Mariana C. Panoutsakopoulos, Vassilios Siaperas, Panagiotis Misailidou, Victoria Tsalis, George A. Healthcare (Basel) Case Report Individuals with High-Functioning Autism present impairments in communication, social interaction, and motor development. A low level of motor skills, namely difficulties in gross and fine mobility, and in motor control, discourage individuals with High-Functioning Autism from being involved in physical activities, resulting in fewer opportunities for social interaction. There is not much evidence available about the effects of regular swimming exercise and/or aquatic therapy on health promotion in adults with High-Functioning Autism. An adult male (22 yrs) diagnosed with High-Functioning Autism participated in a combined 6-month swimming and aquatic therapy program (two sessions/week, 60 min each). The pre- and post-intervention assessments consisted of physical fitness, balance, functional ability, and psychomotor tests. The post-intervention assessments showed improvements in the standing long jump (+100%), hand grip force (+71.7%), bend arm hang test (+123.1%), and the physiological parameters in the 6 min walk test (+10.2%). On the opposite, decrements in the sit-up (−12%) and sit-and-reach test (−6.3%) were observed. It was noted that the participant frequently lost interest and focus quickly, resulting in the abandonment of the exercise. Conclusively, there is a great need for further research on this topic examining a larger adult population. MDPI 2023-11-19 /pmc/articles/PMC10671614/ /pubmed/37998478 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/healthcare11222986 Text en © 2023 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Case Report
Koumenidou, Maria
Kotzamanidou, Mariana C.
Panoutsakopoulos, Vassilios
Siaperas, Panagiotis
Misailidou, Victoria
Tsalis, George A.
The Long-Term Adaptations of a Combined Swimming and Aquatic Therapy Intervention in an Adult Person with High-Functioning Autism (Asperger’s Syndrome): A Case Study
title The Long-Term Adaptations of a Combined Swimming and Aquatic Therapy Intervention in an Adult Person with High-Functioning Autism (Asperger’s Syndrome): A Case Study
title_full The Long-Term Adaptations of a Combined Swimming and Aquatic Therapy Intervention in an Adult Person with High-Functioning Autism (Asperger’s Syndrome): A Case Study
title_fullStr The Long-Term Adaptations of a Combined Swimming and Aquatic Therapy Intervention in an Adult Person with High-Functioning Autism (Asperger’s Syndrome): A Case Study
title_full_unstemmed The Long-Term Adaptations of a Combined Swimming and Aquatic Therapy Intervention in an Adult Person with High-Functioning Autism (Asperger’s Syndrome): A Case Study
title_short The Long-Term Adaptations of a Combined Swimming and Aquatic Therapy Intervention in an Adult Person with High-Functioning Autism (Asperger’s Syndrome): A Case Study
title_sort long-term adaptations of a combined swimming and aquatic therapy intervention in an adult person with high-functioning autism (asperger’s syndrome): a case study
topic Case Report
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10671614/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37998478
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/healthcare11222986
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