Water is an amazing environment that helps produce neurological, muscular, and cardiovascular benefits. The buoyancy involved in water assists with unweighting the body from its normal gravity induced upright posture, allowing for improved freedom of movement. As a result, the impact of water and aquatic therapy on an individual notably with arthritic conditions produces results incomparable to land-based therapy.
Research has shown that the body is unweighted to a specified percentage based on the depth of the water someone is in. Immersion in water produces the following percent body weight borne based on the height of the immersion:
- Knee: 85%
- Hip/Pelvis: 50%
- Pit of the Stomach: 25%
- Collar Bone: 12%
- Chin: 10%
Aquatic therapy provides numerous benefits to individuals undergoing rehabilitation for a various range of diagnoses. Aquatic therapy promotes strengthening with less pain due to the unweighted environment. In addition, individuals are able to achieve further and safer stretching of the musculature due to the assistance from water’s natural buoyancy. The warmth provided in an aquatic therapy pool helps loosen the tight musculature, which also assists in stretching. Decreased stress throughout the joints allows an individual to perform larger ranges of motion at a specific joint with decreased pain. All of these results relate to the muscular benefits when working in the water.
Cardiovascular benefits are also evident in the water. Swimming has long been a sport proven to tax the body’s endurance. Water can easily increase someone’s heart rate, therefore increasing circulation throughout the body and improving the heart’s response to cardio and exercise overall. Achieving the same benefits as running or the elliptical while maintaining decreased stress on the joints is positive in the long-term.
Neurological benefits are also directly related to water based therapy. The input that water provides to the body is second to none. The chemical bond of water provides a consistent pressure on the body that is stimulating to the musculature and the nerves, which innervate these muscles. Studies specifically related to the Burdenko Method have shown nerve regeneration with disc herniation causing nerve compression and other pathologies.
Get in the water to help improve the body’s health, you won’t regret it. DRAC Physical Therapy has created a program specific for our orthopedic population. The proven benefits will provide you with a stronger, more stable, and more flexible self!
 Lambeck, John. Training Pools: The Importance of the Right Depth. EWAC Medical – The Netherlands. https://www.ewac.com. Accessed March 4, 2016.
– Meghan J., PT, DPT, CSCS, Manager