Aquatic therapy or pool therapy mainly includes an exercise program which is performed in water. This is beneficial for healing various types of medical conditions. Mainly this therapy uses physical properties of water to help in healing and improving exercise performance.
The healing nature of warm water is mainly beneficial for your conditions. Water greatly helps in reducing the effects of gravity on your body. At the same time, this effect gives natural resistance to help your muscles work harder and putting less pressure on your body.
Water when warmed to 88 degrees Fahrenheit or more helps for people who have bone, muscle, neurological and orthopedic conditions. Aquatic therapy greatly relaxes your muscles and ligaments by promoting flexibility.
Workouts which you feel very difficult or you cannot perform on land can be comfortably done in water.
Conditions that can be treated with aquatic therapy include:
- Traumatic or work-related injuries
- Low back pain
- Chronic pain
- Spinal injuries or joint replacements
- Developmental disabilities with impaired physical function
- Muscle, joint, or bone problems
- Neurological problems like multiple sclerosis, Guillian Barre syndrome
- Chronic illnesses like fibromyalgia and arthritis
- Osteoporosis
- Prenatal problems
- Poor self esteem or depression
- Weaknesses
- Spatial or perpetual problems
- Sensory disorders
- Poor motor conditions
The major benefit of aquatic therapy is the buoyancy offered by the water. Buoyancy helps in supporting your weight. This reduces the quantity of weight bearing, which again decreases the stress on your joints. This kind of practice is greatly beneficial for people suffering from arthritis, fractured bones, and obesity.
Effective benefits of aquatic therapy include:
- Improved endurance
- Improved self esteem
- Improved strength and muscle tone
- Improved cardiovascular functioning
- Overall enhancement in quality of your life
- Reduced gravitational force, which offers various therapeutic benefits
- Improved psychological conditions
- Increased flexibility, circulation, balance, coordination and range of motions
Buoyancy gives a great support for your spine that became weak due to injuries, diseases, immobilization and surgery. Buoyancy makes it easy for you to get a great comfort position for workouts that you cannot do on land.
Shallow water walking offers you benefits like: increased strength and metabolism, enhanced coordination and balance and reduced stress on muscles due to illnesses and injuries.
Deep water running offers you benefits like: reducing the force in your joints and making the activity pain free.
Hydrostatic pressure helps in reducing the blood pressure in people with hypertension, relieving the edema of lower extremities, and reducing the levels of spasticity in people undergoing rehabilitation. Hydrostatic pressure reduces the inflammation and improves your joint position awareness.
Warmth of water that you experience during aquatic therapy helps in relaxing the muscles and vasodilates vessels and improves the blood flow to the affected areas.
One thing you need to keep in mind before undergoing aquatic therapy is this technique is not suggested for those who have cardiac diseases, fever, bowel or bladder incontinence and infections. Always consult your practitioner before going to start the aquatic exercise program.
