What is Aquatic Therapy?

Do you need to improve your balance? Have you been trying to improve your cardio and strength, but are held back by debilitating pain or unsteadiness? 

Come take a dip in ACPT’s 600-square foot, heated, indoor therapy pool. Though we cannot claim it’s the fountain of youth, we can promise you will discover life-changing benefits of aquatic therapy.  

First, let us explain why water makes for such an effective therapy medium, according to MedBridge. 

1. Buoyancy — So much more than floating, buoyancy allows for hands-on elongation and strengthening. It also allows for decreased weight bearing (including following surgery) and increased upper extremity weight bearing (including making it effective for torticollis treatment). When water is at your waist level, your body weight is reduced by 50%. When water is at your chest level, your body weight is reduced by 75%. 

2. Therapeutic warmth — The warm temperature of the water helps decrease spasticity, offering an opportunity for strengthening therapies. 

3. Viscosity — The viscosity of water allows for slower movement. In turn, this provides patients with more time to react to balance challenges and making them more willing to challenge their balance. The viscosity of water also offers the opportunity to perform functional activities without assistance. For instance, a patient who walks on land with a reverse walker may be able to walk in water using only a long buoyant bar. 

4. Surface tension — Water’s surface tension offers resistance, which helps to increase strength. It also helps improve body awareness. 

5. Hydrostatic pressure — Water pressure helps decrease edema, which is particularly beneficial following surgery. The pressure also increases stroke volume, which leads to improved cardiac output. 

6. Refraction — Because vision is limited or altered in water, proprioception is promoted. 

7. Turbulence and flow — Increasing resistance allows for increased strength and endurance as well as improved balance. 

At ACPT, our highly trained therapists consider all of these healing properties and more when customizing your exercise program. Heated always to 96 degrees F, you will not only improve your physical conditioning in our therapy pool, but you will suffer less wear-and-tear on your joints due to the low resistance nature of aquatic therapy.  

Click here to learn more about our Aquatic Therapy program!