Aquatic Therapy

At Advanced Care Physical Therapy, Aquatic and Fitness Center we specialize in aquatic therapy, providing many patients an ideal atmosphere for progressive early intervention with activities and exercises designed to achieve positive treatment results.

If you or someone you know suffers from a knee, shoulder or hip problem, arthritis, a stroke or is recovering from a back or neck injury – aquatic therapy can be a highly effective method of treatment. By reducing gravity’s effect, aquatic therapy reduces pressure on joints. When your body is immersed in water, a certain level of buoyancy is achieved, relieving physical stress and increasing your flexibility for a faster recovery. Aquatic therapy reduces pain and inflammation, decreases muscle spasms and promotes cardiovascular fitness, as well. The full range of benefits associated with aquatic therapy includes:

• Treatment can begin sooner.
• Water flow provides assistance/resistance to body movements.
• Higher resistance promotes improved muscle strength and endurance.
• Alleviates pressure on joints and spine.
• Reduces pain and inflammation.
• Decreases muscle spasms.
• Increases range of motion.
• Enables relaxed patient participation.
• Decreases spasticity.
  

Aquatic therapy gives our therapists an exceptional medium in which to develop customized exercise programs and treatment techniques as a prelude to traditional land-based rehabilitation. What we do is far more complex – and more beneficial – than just water aerobics.

The importance of regular sustained exercise becomes more recognized every day in these health-conscious times. The recent changes in our nation’s health services, from treating illness to the promotion of good health, reflect these views at the highest level.

Conventional activities for achieving and maintaining fitness such as jogging and weight-training are neither suitable nor enjoyable for many people. That’s why aging baby boomers, the single largest demographic consumer group in history at well over 80 million, are discovering water as an ideal environment for low-stress exercise. And the pool is not just a place for water aerobics. We use specialized manual therapy techniques in the water, as well.

Thus, aquatic therapy has much to offer. The water provides:

• Sustained and gentle resistance for muscles to work against.
• Support to protect the weight-bearing joints.
• Uniform compression of the lower part of the body, a great advantage for circulation in the veins, which in turn benefits the heart and lungs.
• Arm-railed assistive chairs for easier access getting into and out of the pool.
• Hoyer Lift to assist wheelchair-bound and other nonambulatory patients.

At Advanced Care Physical Therapy, Aquatic & Fitness Center, we have a temperature-regulated therapy pool on-site, complete with separate men’s and women’s locker rooms and showers.