Aquatic Therapy with Rehab Services

At Myrtue Medical Center (MMC), our aim is to deliver top-notch care to every patient who walks through our doors. One way we achieve this is by providing unique services conveniently located right here close to home.

Myrtue’s Rehabilitation Services offers Aquatic Therapy to patients whom may need this different approach to return to daily living. Guided by their therapists, patients engage in personalized exercise routines that improve flexibility, strength, and balance. The supportive nature of water allows for a range of motion that might be difficult to achieve on land, promoting quicker recovery and enhanced mobility.

What is Aquatic Therapy?

Aquatic Therapy is simply physical, or occupational, therapy performed in the water. It is a flexible solution for nearly all conditions, is pain-free, and has extensive studies that show it has long-term benefits for patients.

Common goals of aquatic therapy include:

• Improving flexibility
• Improving balance and coordination
• Building muscle strength and endurance
• Enhancing aerobic capacity
• Assisting with gait and locomotion
• Reducing stress and promoting relaxation

Aquatic therapy is different from aquatic exercise or aquatic fitness because it is a rehabilitation specialty that requires the involvement of a trained medical professional. Many insurance providers cover this service due to the personalized nature of the treatment.

Aquatic Therapy at Myrtue Medical Center

Myrtue’s Rehab Services has a private, temperature-controlled environment where patients are able to perform their course of treatment with their therapists. Some of the features of the pool include:

• Underwater treadmill
• A chair lift for those who are unable to use the stairs for pool access
• Massage hose
• Ability to raise and lower depth based on patient needs and height
• Jets to offer resistance while doing exercise

For people who are temperature sensitive, the therapy pool is constantly set between 92 to 93 degrees, which also facilitates muscle relaxation around painful joints.

Limiting factors to the ability to participate in water therapy include congestive heart failure – unless given clearance by cardiologist or primary doctor – incontinence, open wounds, and hepatitis. Fear of water may also be a limiting factor, but rest assured the water level is controllable and does not need to go either above the chest line or up to the shoulder, and a therapist will be supervising throughout the duration of the session.

How does Aquatic Therapy Work?

Aquatic therapy can help you in a number of different ways:

1. The warmth of the water allows your muscles to relax and eases the pain in your joints, helping you to exercise.
2. The water supports your weight, which helps to relieve pain and increase the range of movement in your joints.
3. The water can be used to provide resistance to moving your joints. By pushing your arms and legs against the water, you can also improve your muscle strength.

Aquatic therapy reduces the body weight by 40% at pelvic height, 50% at bellybutton height, 70% at chest level, and 85% above the shoulders compared to land, easing stress on painful joints. The viscosity of water can be utilized to manipulate the amount of resistance by increasing or decreasing speed of movement. Equipment like aquatic dumbbells and kickboards can also intensify resistance levels.

Overall, it is a service that allows patients to heal while also staying safe and reducing the risk of injury due to be in the water.

Who Should Consider Aquatic Therapy?

The biggest benefit to aquatic therapy is giving patients who are injured, disabled, or otherwise not capable of comfortable or safely performing exercises on land can easily do so in the water. At Myrtue's Rehab Services, our Physical and Occupational Therapists offer Aquatic Therapy to patients whom this course of treatment could benefit, some conditions include:

• Arthritis
• Balance disorders
• Cerebral palsy
• Chronic pain
• Idiopathic joint pain
• Joint reconstruction surgery recovery
• Joint replacement surgery recovery
• Lower back pain
• Osteoarthritis
• Orthopedic injuries
• Parkinson’s disease
• Multiple sclerosis
• Rheumatoid arthritis
• Scoliosis
• Spinal cord injury
• Sprains and strains
• Stroke
• Tendonitis
• Traumatic Brain Injury