Is aquatic therapy right for you?

St. Joseph’s/Candler offers aquatic therapy at its Candler Hospital Outpatient Rehabilitation location

A swimming pool can be used for a lot more than a game of Marco Polo or cooling off in the summer sun. With a trained staff, an aquatic environment is a great source of exercise or therapy for many ailments.

St. Joseph’s/Candler offers aquatic physical therapy at its Candler Hospital Outpatient Rehabilitation location. Aquatic therapy is rehabilitation, prevention and wellness for a wide array of patients in a safe aquatic environment.

Simply put, aquatic therapy employs the principles of physical therapy just in water, says Ashlee Cloud, physical therapy assistant with Candler Hospital Outpatient Rehab.

“We like to describe aquatic therapy as a stepping stone to land therapy. There’s a lot less impact on your joints, so for many patients it’s a good place to start,” Cloud says. “Because gravity doesn’t work exactly the same in water, you are basically weightless. Where the water sits, it takes about 75 percent of your body weight off your joints, so a lot of people who can’t walk on land or have trouble walking find they are walking great in the pool.”

Examples of exercises done in the pool for therapy can include anything from walking forward to help hip flexors to walking sideways to help hip abductors to quad stretches, leg kicks and core exercises. Cloud also does something with patients called deep water traction, which is basically a whole body stretch. Light weights will be placed on your ankles and floats placed on your arms and together they pull your body, stretching everything out.  

But don’t let the term deep water fool you. At its deepest point, our Candler pool is only four feet, six inches deep.

“We get a lot of people who are afraid of water or can’t swim, so that’s a very comforting thing that they don’t have to go under water or swim,” Cloud says. “I always say it shouldn’t go over your head unless you want it to.”

Another comforting thing is the temperature of the pool. The water is roughly 90 degrees, which is the standard for a therapeutic pool. Anything lower than that has shown to affect arthritis, Cloud says.

So who is aquatic therapy for?

Aquatic therapy can be effective for a variety of patients with a variety of conditions. An aquatic physical therapy plan can be developed for any age and may be well suited for:

• Patients with chronic low back pain and have trouble standing or walking
• Anyone recovering from surgery
• Patients not allowed full weight-bearing but need to work on walking
• Patients that cannot tolerate high impact activities
• Patients with arthritic hips and knees
• Patients who suffered traumatic accidents and work-place injuries

“We get a lot of referrals to help get patients walking again before they are allowed to start walking on land. They may not be allowed to put weight on those joints on land but are allowed to put weight in the pool because of the water properties,” Cloud says. “We also get a lot of referrals for chronic back pain and arthritis.”

What are the benefits to aquatic therapy?

The physical characteristics of water are used to support, resist and/or assist in increasing flexibility and muscle strengthening while an injury heals or a chronic issue improves.  

“A lot of patients that come in don’t have the endurance to tolerate a full 45-minute session on land but because of the water priorities, they can tolerate 45 minutes in the pool,” Cloud says. “Another thing is when you are in pain, you get super tight and guarded. Being in the pool allows you to stretch and loosen up, so when you do transition to land it is not as painful.”

Aquatic therapy also has been shown to increase:

• Circulation
• Flexibility
• Blood flow
• Muscle strength and tone
• Range of motion
• Coordination

It also helps reduce swelling and stress to painful joints and promotes better posture. There’s also the fact that it just feels good and is held in a relaxed atmosphere.

“We talk. We have music on. It’s a lot less of a formal environment,” Cloud says.

What to expect during aquatic therapy?

If you are interested in aquatic therapy, talk to your doctor as a physician’s referral is required. You may also want to check with your insurance to see what and how many sessions are covered.

Once you have your first appointment scheduled, you will meet with a certified physical therapist who will evaluate your health and then work with the physical therapist assistant to develop an aquatic therapy plan individualized for you.

Typically, aquatic therapy sessions last 45 minutes and are twice a week. We schedule aquatic therapy every Tuesday and Thursday afternoon. Sessions can last anywhere from 10 to 20 visits, or five to 10 weeks.

Cloud tells patients to wear whatever is comfortable to them, and even though towels are provided, they may want to bring their own. Lockers are available to patients. Additionally, some patients feel more comfortable wearing water shoes because sometimes the pool or floor outside the pool can feel slippery.

If you have trouble with stairs, a chair lift is available in which you sit in a chair that slowly swings you into and out of the pool so you don’t have to go up and down the pool’s steps.

“The goal is to progress them to transfer to land therapy and continue to get stronger after that,” Cloud says. “This is a really fun and very rewarding job. It’s nice to be able to watch patients start not being about to do hardly anything to basically being able to do everything.”

For more information about aquatic therapy or any of the St. Joseph’s/Candler Outpatient Rehabilitation services, visit our website or call 912-819-6176.