ATC Rehabilitation Progressions & Outcomes Flashcards
6 cards from real ATC practice questions. Tap to flip, then mark Knew It or Still Learning — missed cards come back until you master them.
Read the first 6 ATC Rehabilitation Progressions & Outcomes flashcards as text
In aquatic therapy, 'buoyancy-assisted' exercise refers to:
Answer: Movement directed toward the water surface so buoyancy force assists the motion
Buoyancy-assisted exercises move toward the surface where the upward buoyancy force helps complete the movement, reducing required muscular effort.
Which early post-surgical rehabilitation goal is BEST addressed by aquatic therapy?
Answer: Early weight-bearing gait retraining with significantly reduced joint compressive forces
Aquatic therapy enables early post-surgical weight-bearing because buoyancy dramatically reduces joint compression, allowing movement before full weight-bearing is safe on land.
In aquatic therapy progression, the correct order from easiest to hardest exercise difficulty is:
Answer: Buoyancy-assisted → buoyancy-neutral → buoyancy-resisted
Aquatic exercise progresses from buoyancy-assisted (water helps movement) through neutral to buoyancy-resisted (water opposes movement) as strength and function improve.
Turbulence is used as a progression variable in aquatic therapy primarily to:
Answer: Increase balance challenge and proprioceptive demand on the patient
Controlled turbulence destabilizes the patient's environment, requiring greater postural adjustments and increasing proprioceptive and balance training intensity.
Older adults with osteoarthritis are a primary aquatic therapy population because:
Answer: Warm water reduces pain while buoyancy off-loads joints, enabling exercise that is too painful on land
Warm water decreases pain sensitivity and buoyancy removes the joint-compressive loading that makes land exercise painful, addressing the two main barriers for osteoarthritis patients.
Increasing water depth during aquatic rehabilitation exercise for a lower extremity patient typically:
Answer: Decreases weight-bearing forces and reduces lower extremity exercise intensity
Greater immersion depth increases buoyancy force, reducing the percentage of body weight transmitted through the lower extremities during standing and walking activities.