Do you avoid family functions due to functional limitations? Have you stopped doing your hobbies or sports because you just do not have the strength or endurance necessary to finish? Are you avoiding church or community functions because sitting or standing is too painful? Have you thought about an exercise program or physical therapy but do not feel you would be able to tolerate it? If so, Empower Physical Therapy would like you to consider aquatic treatment.
Water has some unique properties that help assist patients in recovery whether that is from surgery, illness or weakness from inactivity.
Buoyancy: The upward force that works opposite of gravity. This provides patients with varied degrees of weightlessness and joint unloading, depending on immersion.
Hydrostatic pressure: Pressure exerted by water on immersed objects. This pressure can reduce inflammation, increase circulation and reduce pain.
Viscosity: The friction occurring between molecules of liquid resulting in resistance to flow, giving a patient resistance in all directions for muscle strengthening.
Surface tension: The surface of the water acts as a membrane under tension, so use of aquatic equipment at the surface increases resistance.
All of these work together to give the patient who may not be ready for regular physical therapy a gentler way to start back on the road to recovery and work toward a return to their prior level of function.
For a patient who came to us in a wheelchair and was able to take steps for the first time in over a year in an aquatic setting, who is now able to get around independently with the use of a walker, aquatic therapy has been a real life preserver.
Please consider calling our Hesston office, located inside the Hesston Wellness Center, for a free screening to discuss an aquatic program to get you back in the swim of your life!
