Would you like to recover from a sports injury, surgery, or a chronic health condition more successfully and easily? Then, aquatic therapy at the Rehabilitation Services Department at Ringgold County Hospital may be for you. This increasingly popular form of physical therapy helps people feel better and recover functionality, all in a safe, friendly, and supervised environment. Here’s more on the proven benefits of aquatic therapy.
Benefit #1 Aquatic Therapy Improves Free Muscular Movement and Increases Strength and Endurance
Water has two complementary characteristics: it is both buoyant and resistant. That means when you perform guided exercises in a pool or other aquatic environment, your muscles must push and pull against the natural viscosity of the water. Plus, you are fully supported by the water. Your muscular movements, strength, and endurance consequently improve, all without the strain and other difficulties that traditional weight-bearing exercises pose.
Benefit #2 Aquatic Therapy Controls Pain and Improves Range of Motion and Flexibility
Physical therapies which utilize water reduce pain perception for joints, muscles, and connective tissues, along with decreasing the swelling usually associated with arthritis and other musculoskeletal conditions. Blood circulates more easily in a limb submerged in water and muscular tension also decreases, making movement freer and easier.
Additionally, because people naturally feel more relaxed when submerged in water, their pain receptors relax as well. Brain-based endorphins– nature’s own happy chemicals–flow more freely throughout the body.
Benefit #3 Aquatic Therapy Assists in Weight Management
Aquatic therapy is real exercise. If you are walking or swimming in a pool, or simply doing directed movements of a specific body part, you are exerting mechanical force. Your heart rate and respiration rate will increase as your muscles contract. This is the basis of true cardiovascular conditioning but without the limitations of gravity.
As such, aquatic therapy burns calories. As aquatic therapy is exercise, it can help you manage your weight without putting excessive pressure on your joints.
Benefit #4 Aquatic Therapy Improves Balance, Coordination, and Proprioception
People who have gait issues or problems with balance and coordination can perform rehabilitation exercises in the water to help improve any issues they may have. Importantly, the newly acquired skills transfer to movement out of the water.
Also, aquatic therapy improves proprioception, an awareness of your body position within a three-dimensional space. Patients who have vestibular problems or who have suffered strokes can benefit from the proprioception training aquatic therapy delivers.
Benefit #5 Many Patients Can Use Aquatic Therapy
Incorporated into a personalized program of physical therapy, aquatic therapy benefits many patients. Health conditions aquatic therapy can assist with include:
- Stroke or other neurological disorders
- Arthritis or other orthopedic conditions
- Sports-related injuries
- Amputations
- Walking and balance problems
- Obesity
- Post-surgical recovery, including mastectomy
- Chronic pain syndrome
Rehabilitation Services at Ringgold County Hospital
At RCH, our rehabilitation team proudly serves patients of all ages. To learn more about aquatic therapy and what it can do for you, please contact us at (641) 464-3226, or request a consultation online.
