Water Therapy

The Benefits of Therapy In Water

Hydrokinetic Therapy allows various rehabilitation exercises in water with minimal stress to the person. Immersed in the water the weight of the human body decreases and with it the pressure on the joints. For example, if the water level reaches the shoulders, the body weight is reduced by 90 percent. This allows movements with greater ease than in the traditional therapy on the ground, accelerating the recovery and ambulation.

Pool Features

The pool at Santa Lucia Foundation is 25 meters long and 12 meters wide, with a minimum depth of 90 cm and reaching a maximum of 170 cm. It has raised edges, a staircase with a handrail and two hydraulic lifts to facilitate access to water. There are also proprioceptive tablets, floating aids and supports and floating aids used in strengthening exercises. Given the shallow nature of the pool and the various support devices and mechanisms, it is not necessary to know how to swim.

The average temperature of 32 °C (89.6 °F). makes it possible to exploit the vasodilation induced by the heat of the pool. The heat enhances the diffusion of oxygen into the tissues, promotes muscle recovery and prevents both muscle spasticity and the risk of heart attacks in susceptible people. One side of the pool is fitted with a perimetric glass surface, which allows therapists to observe the patient's movements underwater.

Who is helped by Hydrokinesitherapy?

The hydrokinetic therapy is recommended in neurological, rheumatological, orthopedic, trauma, pulmonary and cardiology conditions. Myopathies, muscular dystrophies, low back pain, post-surgical alterations, fractures and sprains are the problems that most often lead users to undertake a process of rehabilitation in water.

Aquatics therapy isn’t possible in cases of urinary and fecal incontinence, skin infections and fungal infections, heart failure, phlebitis, fever, wounds, active pulmonary infection, severe hypertension and high risk arrhythmias.

How to Prepare for Swimming

To access the pool you must be equipped with suitable bathing suit, cap, slippers and bathrobe. You can use pool shoes, but only within the tank. Before entering the tank it is necessary to take a shower and empty your bladder or bowel as appropriate. Children should wear water resistant diapers.

Rehabilitation treatments

• Balance and coordination techniques
• Joint mobilization techniques
• Muscle relaxation techniques
• Muscle strengthening techniques
• Technical inhibition hypertone

Therapeutic swimming techniques