I chose the topic of aquatic therapy compared to traditional therapy for treating arthritis. My PICO question is: In patients with arthritis, do aquatic therapy exercise techniques, compared to traditional exercise, reduce the patient's pain more? I chose this topic because I performed a lot of aquatic therapy on many different patients during my first clinical rotation. I have also had several arthritis patients who did not benefit from traditional therapy. Taking these thoughts into consideration, I wondered if there might be a way to treat arthritis patients in a low-load state, such as in water. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay To research this article, I used the PUBMED database. I used the key phrase “land and aquatic therapy for arthritis”; with this search I found 18 articles. I concentrated my search by choosing articles published within five years and also choosing articles with full text. Concentrating my research I limited myself to six elements. Then, I read the abstract of all six articles and found out which one was most relevant to my topic. The article I chose is titled “Systematic review and meta-analysis comparing land-based and aquatic exercise for people with hip and knee arthritis on function, mobility, and other health outcomes.” The authors of this article include: Stephanie Batterham, Sophie Heywood, and Jennifer L. Keating. The article was obtained from the journal "BMC Musculoskeletal Disorders" on June 2, 2011. This article concerns the study of the effects of aquatic therapy versus exercise on the function and mobility of people with arthritis. Here is a brief description of the article and the results. Ten randomized controlled trials comparing adults with hip or knee arthritis were included. All data and calculations were performed independently by two reviewers. Both data sets were then compared to identify discrepancies and these were resolved through discussion. Arthritis is a process of inflammation and degeneration associated with pain, stiffness, joint instability that significantly affects daily life. Aquatic therapy and land-based exercises are often used to maintain function in people with arthritis. The benefits of aquatic exercise are believed to arise from the unique characteristics of water, including heat that reduces pain, buoyancy that decreases the load on joints, resistance to movement through turbulence, and hydrostatic pressure. The unique characteristics of water exercise can allow people to perform exercises that they would not be able to perform on land. Aquatic exercise appears to be a useful strategy for regaining movement and loss of function associated with arthritis, but it is more expensive and resource-intensive than physical exercise. Land-based exercise, such as strength training and aerobic exercise, leads to significant improvements in pain, physical function, and overall health, although long-term exercise compliance is poor. For all outcomes evaluated in this review, no statistically significant differences were found for outcomes following exercise in water versus exercise on land. This article answered my question by saying that there is no significant difference between exercising in water and exercising on land. The big picture is.