6 Goals and Benefits of Aquatic Therapy
Simply put, aquatic therapy is physical therapy that is that is performed in a pool. Typically, a pool provides an environment that allows patients to achieve movements that may be unattainable on land due to pain, weakness, or inability to bear weight. These activities now become possible and more enjoyable in the water. Listed below are a few of the ways that aquatic therapy may help you:
1). Decrease pain – Water provides buoyancy which decreases the force of gravity on our body, thereby, allowing you to move more easily with less pain and protect your joints by minimizing weight bearing stress. For example, being in waist deep water reduces 50% of your body weight and in shoulder depth water your body weight is reduced by 90%.
2). Enhance healing process and recovery time – While you are in water, water continually is creating a force which pushes back on you. This is known as hydrostatic pressure. This is very helpful in facilitating improved circulation and decreasing swelling to enhance the healing process. This in turn can decrease joint tenderness, aid in improved range of motion, and decrease recovery time. In addition, while recovering from an injury where you are restricted from fully weight bearing on a joint, exercising in water provides an environment that allows you to work on strength, range of motion and your gait while decreasing or eliminating body weight forces sooner than you may be able to do on dry land.
3). Build muscle strength and endurance – While we move through water, the viscosity of the water and the drag forces that are created help us to strengthen our muscles and improve our activity tolerance to be able to complete daily activities. In addition, exercising in the water can also improve aerobic capacity and breathing function for better health. Further, use of paddles, noodles, aqua gloves, and weights can also be used in the pool to enhance strengthening benefits.
4). Improve flexibility, range of motion, and mobility – Exercising in warm water helps to promote muscle relaxation and improved circulation which can decrease muscle guarding and spasms. At Active Physical Therapy our pool is consistently kept between 92-94 degrees to enhance this. Further, due to relative density, water helps to assists with raising especially painful or swollen joints/limbs, allowing you to see improvements in your mobility with less pain.
5). Improve coordination and balance – While in water, our bodies are constantly responding to the pressure and movement of water around us. This improves our reaction time, strengthens our muscles, and sensory awareness to improve our balance and coordination of movement. The feeling of support from the water around us can also help to decrease fear of falling by providing a sense of security and relaxation. This can make exercises that seem impossible on land now possible in the water.
6). Improve gait – For someone who isn’t able to fully bear weight on land, finds it too painful, or is fearful of falling, the water can be a great environment to encourage movement safely and effectively. As stated above, hydrostatic pressure decreases weight bearing forces which can also decrease pain. At Active Physical Therapy, we have an underwater treadmill which allows us to efficiently address someone’s gait pattern sooner than they would be able to on land many times. As therapists, we can then give cuing and feedback to encourage proper walking technique. We also have railings present to hold on to while walking for anyone with balance difficulties to keep them safe.
Aquatic physical therapy is often prescribed specifically for:
- Low back pain
- Arthritis
- Pain management
- Post-surgical rehabilitation (Joint replacements, lower extremity fractures)
- Difficulty with walking or mobility
- Balance disorders
- Neuromuscular diseases
- Decreased weight bearing tolerance
This list is not all-inclusive and many others have benefited from physical therapy as well, even those who have failed to see adequate results with traditional land based physical therapy programs. Being able to swim is not a prerequisite to do aquatic physical therapy. Most exercises can be performed while standing, holding onto a railing, or using a flotation device. As your confidence and comfort in the water improves, your physical therapist can help guide you with appropriate exercises.
To find out how Active Physical Therapy and aquatic therapy can help in your recovery, please give us a call at 906-226-0574.