As a kid, you may have gone swimming in a pool every summer. Many people only associate pools with fun or exercise, but some pools offer more benefits than these. For example, aquatic therapy pools near you in Wentzville, Missouri, can help people suffering from arthritis or sports injuries.
How can an aquatic therapy pool near you help with arthritis?
Osteoarthritis tends to happen to most people as they get older. This is because the cartilage in your joints gradually wears away as you age, and this can lead to pain, swelling and other symptoms. This condition can also make it harder for you to exercise, which can decrease your quality of life.
Thanks to aquatic therapy pools, arthritis patients can exercise with less pain. You see, aquatic therapy and the physical therapists who use it take the natural buoyancy of water and put it to work for you. For arthritis sufferers, buoyancy is helpful because it reduces the force of gravity pushing down on your joints. This means that it’s easier to move around in an aquatic therapy pool, and you can do helpful exercises to improve your joint health with less pain.
How does aquatic therapy help sports injuries recover faster?
Another issue that can benefit from an aquatic therapy pool is a sports injury. This category of injuries is very broad, and it includes things like strains, sprains, fractures and tendinitis. No matter what type of sports injury you have, chances are good you’ll benefit from using aquatic therapy as part of your recovery.
For one thing, aquatic therapy pools are typically heated, and the heat can help improve the blood flow to your injury. This is helpful because it can allow injured tissue to get more of the oxygen and nutrients it needs to repair itself. Also, improved blood flow allows endorphins created during exercise to get to the injured area more easily, and endorphins are helpful because they’re the body’s natural pain relievers.
Aquatic therapy can also benefit people with sports injuries by helping to decrease swelling. Water pushes in on objects that are immersed in it, and this includes your body. This inward push is a force called compression. In fact, it’s the same type of force that is exerted by compression socks and bandages. Thanks to the compression of the water in the aquatic therapy pool, the fluid that causes swelling is pushed out of the injured area. In turn, the reduction in swelling can help open up pinched blood vessels and speed up healing.
Excel Sports & Physical Therapy has an aquatic therapy pool at our clinic in Wentzville, MO
One service offered at Excel Sports & Physical Therapy’s Wentzville clinic is aquatic therapy, and we have our very own aquatic therapy pool that we use to help people with many injuries and medical issues. However, aquatic therapy is just one of the many techniques we can build into your personalized therapy plan. Other techniques our team may use in your plan include:
Take the next step to get our help with your injury or medical condition. Contact our team today for more information or to schedule an initial appointment.
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