Hydrotherapy

We posed the question, ‘what is a hydrotherapy pool?’ to our General Manger, Matthew Ternes:

There are two key elements of a hydrotherapy pool: warm water and accessibility. Since hydrotherapy is best conducted where the water temperature is between the low-to-mid 30-degree range, most hydrotherapy pools are indoors. For accessibility, a hydrotherapy pool will either have a ramp, or a hoist or lift, which has the ability to safely lower someone, who might be confined to a wheelchair, into the water.

We conduct therapy at the Gold Coast Performance Centre, Runaway Bay in an indoor pool which has a lift. This provides access to the pool for people who cannot walk, have conditions that impact their gait in general or have severe cognitive impairments including Down Syndrome. We have one lane in this heated pool that we can utilise at any time. No one has their first initial assessment in the pool; we complete an initial assessment in our clinic first, following which we design the hydrotherapy plan.

We sometimes use a hydrotherapy pool at Palm Beach. As it is a Gold Coast Council facility, the pool’s availability would need to be determined prior to booking a client’s appointment. Also, since it is a council facility, additional fees to access the pool apply.

If accessibility is not an issue, we can also provide hydrotherapy on home visits if clients have access to their own swimming pool. We can provide bouyancy mats and dumbells and provide an amazing workout. Who knew you could use the wall of your own swimming pool as a leg press machine?

Improving range of motion is a key focus for hydrotherapy pool-based exercises. For example if someone had a really chronic back injury that was highly sensitive, where even general walking around would cause a flare up, a hydrotherapy pool can provide comfort.

Typically we would start in the deep end of the pool and perform exercise sessions there. As flare ups started to decrease, we would start to progress our sessions to a shallower part of the pool which would be half load-bearing and half not load-bearing. Then we would transition that back to load bearing exercises outside of the pool, so that would become another end goal, depending on the type of condition of course.

For senior citizens or those with a physical disability, or if you are recovering from surgery, this is a form of exercise that can be less painful, with movements which are easier due to the immersion and support of warm water. For example, if you have a shoulder injury and you can only move it through a limited range of motion, that range increases in the warmth of a hydrotherapy pool.

Hydrotherapy can be particularly effective for many conditions which have resulted in pain or loss of motion and strength as a large focus on quality of movements is placed.

These conditions may include the following:

• Elderly looking to improve overall level of mobility
• Lower back pain
• Knee pain
• Neurological conditions
  • Parkinson disease
  • Multiple Sclerosis
  • Multiple Systems Atrophy
• Sporting injuries
• Osteoarthritis
• Acute ankle/knee sprains
• Post immobilisation due to fracture
• Muscle strain or tears