How hydrotherapy can improve mobility

As one of the leading organisations in hydrotherapy pool installation, we want to share our insights with you into how hydrotherapy can improve mobility.

Whether you are looking for support with rehabilitation or improving your fitness, hydrotherapy or aquatic physiotherapy as it’s known, is an excellent way of training to reduce pain and increase strength.

Unlike using a swimming pool, hydrotherapy requires using a pool where the water temperature is around 33C to 36C. By doing so, special exercises can be performed where warm water focuses on slow, controlled movements and relaxation.

This blog details how hydrotherapy can improve mobility for individuals, including its health benefits, exercises and how it can be used in a home hydrotherapy pool justification report.

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Jump Straight To –

• How hydrotherapy aids muscle relaxation and movement
• How hydrotherapy increases blood circulation and blood flow
  • Hydrotherapy Pool Exercises
• How mobility is used in hydrotherapy justification cases

 

 

How hydrotherapy aids muscle relaxation and movement

 

One of the key ways in how hydrotherapy can improve mobility is by encouraging muscle relaxation and enabling easier movement.

Hydrotherapy is a physical therapy that uses the properties of warm water to help reduce pain and increase movement. Aquatic physiotherapists provide this therapy for individuals with a variety of conditions, including arthritis and spinal injuries.

With the help of a hydrotherapy pool, the buoyancy of the water helps to reduce the impact of gravity on the body, facilitating easier movement.

Warm water helps to relax muscles and reduce pain. The resistance of the water also helps strengthen muscles and improve range of motion.

Through the use of warm water, hydrotherapy can improve mobility by maintaining and strengthening muscle tone.

Exercises can be carried out in the pool. Using the buoyancy of the water, it acts as an aid to help support the body while performing exercises. This can also help reduce the risk of further injury.

 

 

Often these exercises are designed to target legs, arms and shoulders.

By working with a professional aquatic physiotherapists, individuals can improve muscle strength and balance, supporting an increase in mobility.

To find out what type of exercises are carried out, read our blog on ‘Exercises to do in a hydrotherapy pool.

 

How hydrotherapy increases blood circulation and blood flow

 

Another way in which hydrotherapy can improve mobility is by helping reduce muscle pain and swelling. By supporting pain management, especially those with chronic injuries, it enables individuals to increase movement and improve blood flow.

Due to the warmth of the water in a hydrotherapy pool, it relaxes muscles and reduces inflammation, as well as promoting bodily functions like circulation, respiration, and even pain relief.

Many care professionals have put forward a growing evidence base suggesting that heat stimulatory receptors are in the same place as nociceptive impulses (these are nerve cells that cause pain when stimulated).

 

 

Through the introduction of heat, it essentially numbs or overrides the sensation of pain. Without that feeling of pain, it makes it far easier to move and exercise uninhibited.

By creating an environment that enables an individual to move more freely, it creates opportunities for exercise. Aquatic physiotherapy is all about building up muscle strength. The weightless feeling that allows the body to move more freely makes exercise less strenuous.

 

Hydrotherapy Pool Exercises

 

As mentioned above, hydrotherapy exercises are slow and controlled, taking a methodical approach to rehabilitate or support an individual’s ability to move.

It is also important to consider that the impact that the water pressure has on sore muscles. Using water jets helps to direct warm water to certain areas of the body, reducing inflammation and can reducing stiffness of joints.

This all helps to improve blood flow and circulation, showcasing how hydrotherapy can improve mobility.

To learn more about the ins and outs of how hydrotherapy works, read our blog on ‘How Hydrotherapy Works’.

 

How mobility is used in hydrotherapy justification cases

 

Pulling together a hydrotherapy justification report for families requiring a home pool is a long and arduous process.

However, if you can show evidence of how a hydro pool has helped an individual’s physical and psychological health, it can make a big difference to your medical legal case.

 

 

Using medical records and testimonials from occupational therapists, physiotherapists and healthcare professionals detailing improvements to mobility, pain management, and mental well-being, the case for justifying a home hydro pool has a much stronger chance of being approved.

This evidence can be taken in the form of videos or written accounts.

Discover more about what goes into a hydrotherapy justification report, read How to support a home hydrotherapy justification report or book your place onto one of our CPDs.

 

Summary

 

Whether it is muscle relaxation or increasing blood flow, hydrotherapy can improve mobility in a number of ways.

In addition, to help more people access aquatic physiotherapy at home, showcasing evidence of improvements to mobility can play a key role for a justification report for a home pool.

To get more of our insights into hydrotherapy pool design, installation, maintenance and justification, complete the contact form below.