9 most important benefits of Aqua Therapy Exercises

Aquatic therapy is a specific kind of physical or occupational therapy. Water has been and still continues to become one of the most reliable environments to gain full function despite the injury.

Water increases movement and as well as flexibility. The warmth of the water and its massaging outcomes support muscles to relax while promoting to decrease pain. The natural buoyancy decreases gravitational pull and reduces compressive forces, therefore making exercises much simpler to perform than on land.

In addition, aquatic therapy is much more comfortable for individuals suffering from certain joint problems as it places much less stress on patients joints.

Here you can see the most important benefits of Aqua Therapy Exercises

Water Creates Hydrostatic Pressure

Since water is denser than air, it puts more pressure on patients. This is due to the waters continually being adjusting its shape in order to fit the patient’s movements.

It also compresses the skin, muscles, and patient’s joints through a theory called hydrostatic pressure. This concept, in turn, makes the heart and lungs to work harder since the chest cavity is under direct pressure. Also, it feels like a compression bandage for your entire body, which supports to alleviate many chronic muscle aches when the patient is submerged neck-deep water. Water has multiple therapeutic benefits originating from hydrostatic pressure.

Aquatic Therapy Dulls Sense of Touch

Human’s nervous system has an intense network of nerve endings in the skin and muscles which react to the smallest stimulus.

Under a continuous stimulus, like a pressure from water that the body is not used to, the nervous system automatically dulls the reticular system, which is the part of the brain that is responsible to deal with tactile sensory neurons.

This, in turn, can also improve to dull muscle pain, which makes it more comfortable for individuals to stretch their muscles to their full range of motion in order to advance in treatment. In fact, one of the biggest barriers to current physical therapy is the pain associated with moving injured muscles to recover their function.

This causes patients often to become coaxed by their practitioner/therapist, which can take up a session time. In addition, individuals who don’t like being touched often feel more relaxed in water since their sense of touch isn’t as acute.

Resistance

Opposed to air, the steady resistance water delivers is one of the most significant aquatic therapy benefits. In fact, aquatic activities are some of the most energy-intensive workouts that exist.

When you are being forced to use more energy to perform accustomed movements, it helps you to tone atrophied muscles quicker by using more muscle fibers, and the presence of water assists to overcome pain. In addition, it helps to keep you standing and while lessening a likely fear of falling due to water’s buoyancy.

Aqua Therapy Rebuilds Muscle Memory

Due to the inherent viscosity and resistance of water, the patient to move more gently. This, in turn,  enables the brain to process the signals from your muscles more thoroughly since it has more time, which is an excellent advantage to restore muscle memory.

For individuals with a neuro-muscular condition or other impairment, muscle re-education is made more accessible by the presence of water due to this feature. Even when you perform exercises in water, outside from therapy sessions, it makes you concentrate on taking the muscle properly through its full range of motion. This is because you are not able to move as fast and can think about how their body is moving.

Easy Access

When you are in the water, the therapist swims around you in order to work with all parts of your body.

Therefore you don’t need to bother about turning over when you feel comfortable or when you are going to do another kind of water exercise. Therefore, with aqua therapy, it is easier for both you and your therapist.

Improved Circulation

Hydrostatic pressure retains the patient’s heart under continuous pressure. In addition, water typically used for aquatic therapy treatment is normally kept at warmer-than-average temperatures because of warmth elevates circulation which helps promote healing.

For individuals who have weaker heart muscles, this can compensate for poor circulation by receiving oxygen-rich blood to reach the periphery of the body.

Helps to Relax Your Muscles

Your blood vessels get dilated when you are in warm water which increases blood circulation to the muscles. Muscle soreness is generally originated by lactic acid build-up, and the elevated blood flow removes lactic acid away from the muscles and helps to reduce the soreness.

Sore muscles following a hard workout can demotivate the patient because of the pain associated. Accordingly, unwinding muscles and enhance compliance and participation after the session is completed is one of the most significant aquatic therapy benefits.

This further helps prevent unexpected injury from overtraining, lessening the level of stress inflicted on healing muscles, cartilage, or connective tissue.

Massage

When you move through water, it flows in currents. In fact, flowing of water molecules around the water acts as a natural form of massage. This helps them to increase blood flow circulation and relax the tired or sore muscles.

Aqua therapy is also beneficial for its promoting a positive, reinforcing environment for the individuals to work in. Since patients might get discouraged when exercise is hard or painful to perform, the light-hearted atmosphere that water promotes becomes vital to the healing process.