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Many of us have heard or used the term aquatic therapy, the universal tag line for any exercise program that is performed in the water. The benefits of aquatic therapy are too numerous to mention in a short article. However, aquatic therapy can aid in increasing the speed of recovery and improve a patient’s functional abilities on land.
You don’t need to know how to swim to reap the benefits of aquatic therapy or in many cases even get your hair wet. Water not only provides the ideal environment for performing therapeutic exercises. It also offers excellent resistance to a wide variety of exercises and low impact activity utilized to reduce weight and improve overall performance. Aquatic Therapy offers the buoyancy factor which assists in supporting the weight of the patient, resistance from the water promoting muscle strengthening without the need of weight, and hydrostatic pressure to decrease swelling and improve joint position awareness. The hydrostatic pressure assists in approving balance and reducing swelling in the joints, and the warmth of the water assists in relaxing muscles, and allows for dilation of blood vessels, thus increasing blood flow to injured areas. Some conditions like back pain from muscle spasm and fibromyalgia respond well to aquatic therapy.
The Human Performance Center on the University of Northern Iowa campus has the best pool for aquatic therapy and training, and the only one of its kind in the state. The HydroWorx 2000 is the only therapy pool with a deck that doubles as a treadmill and goes from zero to six feet of depth. This system allows you to enter the patient at ground level and then lower them to the desired depth for the treatment or exercise program, eliminating the need for ladders or steps. The uniqueness of the underwater treadmill allows the user to simulate any activity, from walking to sprinting, shuffling, or any sports-specific activity. Patients can start from virtually non-weight bearing and work their way up to dry land exercises.
There is only one limiting factor to designing programs with the HydroWorx and that is the imagination limitations of the aquatic therapist. With this particular pool you can do virtually any exercise in the water you could do on dry land. With the underwater camera system, you can film the session and transfer it to a DVD for review later. The patient and clinician have a visual record to plan future sessions so the patient or client can progress at the most optimal rate to reach their individual desired goals.
Retaining range of motion or establishing normal active range of motion are two important aspects of rehabilitation that allow the patient to progress at a faster rate. The quicker the patient can return to normal activity, the better they feel after an injury or surgery. This pool is the most efficient safe tool available to patients in the Cedar Valley that is currently not available anywhere else in the state of Iowa. We work with individuals with conditions ranging from total knee and hip replacement to student-athletes, both high school and collegiate, recovering from sport-related injuries. With the use of the underwater treadmill and resistance jets the athlete can obtain the best resistance exercise experience with low impact activity, allowing for longer, safer training sessions.
I have over 16 years of aquatic therapy experience. I can without a doubt rank the HydroWorx 2000 as the best aquatic therapy pool I have worked with. We have the necessary tools that allow us to work on building strength with the patient up to their shoulders in the water bearing only 10 percent of their weight. When the patient is pain free and strong at that depth, we can gradually raise them up until they can walk normally without pain. One patient with knee pain was able to jog in the HydroWorx during their second session, which was the first time they had jogged pain free in over 25 years. Hardly a week goes by when we haven’t devised a new and beneficial program for a patient to meet their particular needs.
Aquatic Therapy is one of the best tools available to allow for pain free rehabilitation promoting the most advantageous environment for the healing process to take place. The HydroWorx 2000 is one of the best all-around therapy pools available as is evident by patient success stories and the number of major colleges and professional teams that have purchased it for their sports medicine programs.
Terry Noonan is Executive Director of the Human Sport and Performance program at UNI.
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