Support of body weight
The immediate benefit of choosing this treatment option is the reduced effect of gravity on the body. When only need to support 50% of your body weight when you are standing waist-deep in water. When you are neck-deep in water, this increases to 90% of your body weight being supported by the water. This allows you to do exercises that you can’t normally perform on land either due to disability, injury, pain or weakness.
Since water allows you to move more freely, this is great for exercising weight-bearing joints like the knees, hips, ankles and lower back. This in turn can improve any stiffness or short range of motion you might have. If you have a lower back problem, this can also lessen the compressive load.
Resistance of water
Water provides resistance, which can be used to work the muscles in different ways. You can work on improving your strength by forcing floatation devices in the water. You can also use movement through the water to create resistance. Our physios can teach you how to use different equipment to do this.
Increase in hydrostatic pressure
The deeper you go into water, the more hydrostatic pressure there will be. This is very beneficial to the body as it can promote circulation by helping fluid from your tissues return to the bloodstream. The gentle pressure of the water helps reduce any swelling you have in the body.
As you can see, there are many benefits of hydrotherapy. This is effective in treating a range of conditions and can aid recovery post-surgery. If you believe that hydrotherapy might help you, please book an appointment online with one of our Mt Pritchard therapists to discuss this further.
