No one likes having to go through physical therapy. Not only is physical therapy a reminder of a lack of functioning within the body, but it can also be an inconvenience and may not feel good. However, after sustaining a serious injury, physical therapy is often needed to get your body functioning fully again.
Sometimes, our physical therapy needs are a little more complex and need a more robust therapy. Aquatic physical therapy works well for injuries that are best treated while in the water.
How Aquatic Physical Therapy Differs From Regular Physical Therapy?
Physical therapy involves providing training to improve one’s quality of life through prescribed exercises, hands-on care, and patient education. Often this is needed after someone has suffered a serious injury. Physical therapy can take place over a series of appointments until the patient is on the road to recovery.
For patients who are in pain and are weakened due to an injury or disability, aquatic therapy may be needed. Aquatic physical therapy involves therapy in the water. Water can make exercise easier and less painful because it removes excessive forces on joints. The natural buoyancy of water reduces stress on the body and helps patients exercise easier with less pain. Plus, the natural pressure of water in therapy pools reduces joint and soft tissue swelling and provides enough resistance to strengthen muscles.
The Benefits of Aquatic Physical Therapy
Aquatic physical therapy can help with early weight-bearing, balance training, flexibility, as well as strengthening the core back muscles and improving gait or how a person walks. The physical properties of warm water have many therapeutic benefits.
- Aquatic physical therapy is easy on the joints. Aquatic therapy buoyancy decreases weight-bearing and lessens the impact on joints, allowing you to perform exercises that may be difficult to do outside of the water or on the ground.
- Aquatic physical therapy is not as painful. Warm water helps reduce pain by relaxing tight or spasm-prone muscles and increasing blood flow.
- Aquatic physical therapy is fun. While most people never look forward to regular physical therapy, aquatic therapy offers an engaging therapy environment that uses water’s natural resistance and buoyancy, making therapy more fun and enjoyable.
Conditions That May Benefit From Aquatic Therapy
Exercising in a pool without carrying your full body weight can help you ease into activity and start rehabilitation earlier after an injury or surgery. This is also a great way for athletes to maintain conditioning. Aquatic therapy boosts general conditioning and strength; it’s used to treat a variety of conditions:
- Arthritis
- Low-back pain and spinal disorders
- Osteoarthritis and stress fractures
- Back pain
- Multiple sclerosis
- Peripheral neuropathy
- Balance disorders
- Chronic pain
- Muscular dystrophy
- Post-surgery care including joint replacements
- Fibromyalgia
- Neurological disorders (Parkinson’s disease, stroke)
- Rheumatoid arthritis
- Gait deviations and balance
- Obesity
- Sports injuries
- Sprains and strains
While no one enjoys having to go through physical therapy, ReLive Physical Therapy has partnered with LA Fitness to offer aquatic physical therapy, which makes it more enjoyable. This is available for groups or one-on-one.
At ReLive Physical Therapy, we are committed to a patient-first approach and recognize you deserve individualized care that is catered to your specific needs. Our clinics implement innovative treatment methods to leverage the most effective, results-based techniques in the industry, and that includes aquatic physical therapy.
At ReLive, we focus on results and remain consistently engaged with the best available science to provide you with the most effective recovery and rehabilitative processes catered specifically to you and your physical therapy needs.
