What is Hydrotherapy Treatment?
Studies have shown that hydrotherapy treatment can greatly benefit people diagnosed with arthritis by reducing pain and inflammation, improving circulation, enhancing immune function, and promoting relaxation. Hydrotherapy treatment can be given in a variety of settings such as hospitals, clinics, or spas. It can also come in the form of hot and cold compresses, use of hot tubs and steam rooms, and doing aquatic exercises in a pool.
Treatments for Hydrotherapy can be given in a variety of settings, including hospitals, clinics, and spas. Hot tubs, saunas, steam rooms, hot and cold compresses, and aquatic exercises are all common types of hydrotherapy treatments.
What Does Hydrotherapy Treat?
- Pain.
- Stiffness.
- Bruising.
- Swelling.
- Muscle ache.
- Menstrual cramps.
How does Hydrotherapy work?
Water is buoyant, therefore reducing the effect of gravity, meaning that there is less resistance and pressure on your body as you move through it. With less stress on your joints and muscles, you are generally able to perform movements with more ease and less pain than on land. So, whether you are performing a leg exercise, hip extensions, lateral knee stability, or going through ankle rehabilitation exercises, loading is eased.
The warmth of the water also allows your muscles to relax, helping to ease any aches and pains and increase the range of motion in your affected joints. You can also use the water as resistance to your moving joints to improve muscle strength.
Hydrotherapy can be a good start if you are looking at managing high pain levels, are new to exercise or are unable to do certain movements on land. The best bit is, that you don’t even need to know how to swim as you can before all of this in the shallow end with confidence.
What does Hydrotherapy do for the body?
Aquatic therapy can help you in a variety of ways:
- The warmth of the water relaxes your muscles and relieves joint pain, allowing you to exercise.
- The water supports your weight, which helps to alleviate pain and increase the joint range of motion.
- Water can be used to provide resistance to joint movement. You can improve your muscle strength by pushing your arms and legs against the water.
How long should you stay in a Hydrotherapy pool?
The ideal duration for hydrotherapy varies depending on the individual’s health condition, age, and fitness level. However, as a general rule, it is recommended to spend 15-30 minutes in a hydrotherapy pool. This is enough time to experience the benefits of hydrotherapy without overexerting yourself.
It is important to note that spending too much time in a hydrotherapy pool can be counterproductive. Prolonged exposure to warm water can cause dehydration, fatigue, and dizziness. Therefore, it is important to listen to your body and not exceed the recommended duration.
What are the benefits of Hydrotherapy?
The warmth of the water relaxes your muscles and relieves joint pain, allowing you to exercise. The water supports your weight, which helps to alleviate pain and increase the joint range of motion. Water can be used to provide resistance to joint movement.
Here are other benefits:
- Pain Management to allow the reduced pressure on joints, muscles, and bones
- Pre- and post-surgery rehabilitation to promote faster recovery and restore mobility
- Increase flexibility and overall movement
- Improve general fitness, strength, balance, endurance and stamina
- Promotes circulation to reduce swelling and inflammation
- Safe following injuries or trauma
- Enhance mental health and overall wellbeing
- Weight loss and management
- Greater coordination and gross motor skills1,2
Our Hydrotherapy Pool Centre
At Healthstin, we provide professional hydrotherapy services across multiple locations in Australia, helping individuals improve mobility, manage pain, recover from injury, and enhance overall wellbeing through tailored aquatic exercise programs.
What types of Arthritis is hydrotherapy used for?
Regardless of how many of your joints are affected by arthritis, hydrotherapy can be beneficial. If you have undergone joint replacement therapy, or have osteoarthritis, back pain, ankylosing spondylitis, rheumatoid arthritis3, psoriatic arthritis, and many others4!
How to join the Hydrotherapy program?
Healthstin, in collaboration with Arthritis New South Wales, initiated a revolutionary hybrid program tailor-fitted for people with Arthritis. Introducing, Best of Both Worlds! This exercise program provides various benefits from two different environments- land-based and water-based. To make it even better, Healthtin’s Accredited Exercise Physiologists supervise every participant throughout the entire session.
If you’re interested in participating in our event, book an appointment now or email us at [email protected].
References:
- Geytenbeek, J. (2002). Evidence for effective hydrotherapy. Physiotherapy, 88(9), 514-529.
- DHc, P. L. (2014). Patient reported benefits of hydrotherapy for arthritis. New Zealand Journal of Physiotherapy, 42(2), 89.
- Al‐Qubaeissy, K. Y., Fatoye, F. A., Goodwin, P. C., & Yohannes, A. M. (2013). The effectiveness of hydrotherapy in the management of rheumatoid arthritis: a systematic review. Musculoskeletal care, 11(1), 3-18.
- Foley, A., Halbert, J., Hewitt, T., & Crotty, M. (2003). Does hydrotherapy improve strength and physical function in patients with osteoarthritis—a randomised controlled trial comparing a gym based and a hydrotherapy based strengthening programme. Annals of the rheumatic diseases, 62(12), 1162-1167.
