Aquatic Therapy
Aquatic Therapy: Patient Rehab Success Through Water Therapy
Therapy SPOT – Bellaire’s aquatic therapy uses the properties of water to help you with your rehab. Water therapy allows our patients to use the buoyancy of water to work on their gait and balance in new, exciting ways.Aquatic Therapy: Patient Rehab Success Through Water Therapy
Therapy SPOT – Bellaire’s aquatic therapy uses the properties of water to help you with your rehab. Water therapy allows our patients to use the buoyancy of water to work on their gait and balance in new, exciting ways.
Aqua therapy removes the physical limitations of patients who may not be able to hold themselves up outside of the pool.
Our therapists use hydrotherapy to:
- Build strength
- Improve endurance
- Ease swelling
- Reduce pain
- Increase mobility
- Improve confidence
Water helps patients gain confidence, offers natural, gentle resistance, and is often the first place where a patient takes their first steps unassisted after an injury. Hydrotherapy offers a relaxing environment where physical or occupational therapists remain close by, but we allow patients to explore their limitations more in the pool than outside.
Aqua therapy removes 80% of the weight bearing on the joints, which aids in rehabilitation and allows for injured joints or soft tissue to heal.
Injuries or disabilities can lead to confidence loss, and the pool has a way of removing the physical barriers that lead to this confidence loss in patients.
Aquatic Therapy Benefits for Our Patients
When we ask our patients about their favorite activity, many have the same response: aqua therapy. You may not be able to withstand the rough waves in the ocean or have the mobility to walk in and out of a lake safely, but you can get into the pool with one of our therapists.
Water therapy is fine and exciting, but it’s also very beneficial.
Buoyancy makes a person “lighter,” and the downward pull of gravity is eliminated. It’s easier to take steps, rotate arms, or even lift your leg when you’re in the water. There are times when land-based therapy may be impossible or too painful, especially with soft tissue or joint issue, but water allows the person to:
- Maintain range of motion
- Maintain strength
- Work accessory muscles
Ambulation, range of motion, and postural awareness are all assisted by water. Sensory input in all extremities and the trunk is activated, too. Therapists can help a patient regain mobility or strength while also keeping weight off of the injury.
It’s the best of both worlds.
We recommend aquatic therapy to many of our patients suffering from:
- Back pain
- Balance-related issues
- Fractures
- Sprains
- Fibromyalgia
- Arthritis
- Muscle spasms
- Stroke
- Joint replacement
- Tendon issues
- Ligament issues
- Spinal cord injuries
- TBI
Even if you cannot walk into the pool on your own, lifts can assist to place you safely into the pool’s water. Through a combination of water therapy and traditional therapy, you’ll be able to improve mobility, range of motion and strengthen your muscles.
During that period after surgery or an injury where land-based therapy can cause more harm than good, water therapy is often used to speed up the recovery process.
Gentle, fun, and a change from the normal therapy we offer, work in the pool is recommended for many patients. Our therapists can evaluate a patient’s needs and determine if aquatic therapy is a good option – it often is beneficial.