Hydrotherapy For People With A Disability
Hydrotherapy, also known as water therapy, is a complementary aquatic treatment that improves physical movement, treating bodily conditions such chronic health conditions like fibromyalgia and arthritis . According to a similar article from Jivome, It can also treat moderate skin problems like eczema and burns. This treatment uses water temperature and pressure in varying degrees to help improve and treat health problems. Like all kinds of therapy, the goal is to ease the physical symptoms and hopefully treat the disability of the patients. This treatment option also goes above and beyond by improving the patient’s mental health.
How Does Hydrotherapy Work?
Most hydrotherapy treatments are quite easy. They involve sitting the patient down in a warm bath, physical therapy tank, swimming pool, whirlpool spa, hot tubs, sauna, or even a shower. The procedure for each form will depend on the goal of treatment, the patient, and the practitioner.
Hydrotherapy has to be recommended by a doctor, an alternative health practitioner, or a physical therapist. In addition to their recommendation, they also prescribe the form of hydrotherapy best suited for the patient. Here are some types of hydrotherapy:
Aquatic exercise. This form of hydrotherapy uses specialist equipment and usually takes place in a pool. The low-impact nature of the environment allows patients to raise their heart rate and stretch their muscles without putting too much stress on their joints. The routines for this type of hydrotherapy are especially beneficial for fibromyalgia or arthritis patients. It works very well for older people who risk falling over. The low-impactenvironment allows for minimal risk of injury. In time, a significantly improved patient can even take swimming lessons.
Warm water baths. This type of hydrotherapy treatment involves soaking the patient in warm water baths. Minerals, salts, and essential oils are added to the warm water to improve the bath. This helps the patient relax his muscles, especially after rigorous therapy.
Sitz bath. This refers to using a shallow bath with cold or warm water. Hydrotherapists generally prescribe sitz baths for issues like hemorrhoids and cramps.
Wrap, compress, and fomentation. This type of hydrotherapy provides relief from targeted mild symptoms. It also acts as a support treatment for more extensive therapy sessions.
Sauna. This hydrotherapy involves both dry heat and wet sauna and refrigerated sauna. The room is set to a specific temperature, and the patient has to sit inside with either dry or cool air to help ease discomfort.
Water circuit. This form of hydrotherapy involves alternatingly going through different hydrotherapy forms in succession. The immersion between cool and warm water helps promote circulation and ease the patient’s symptoms. The circuits vary depending on the patient and the therapist. Most circuits, however, involve any or all of the following: dry or wet sauna, warm or cool baths, and cold plunges.
Immersion therapy. This hydrotherapy involves immersing the patient in water to relieve their pain. This treatment includes cold plunges, sitz baths, warm or cool baths, whirlpool baths, and hot tubs with jet massages.
Benefits of Hydrotherapy
Earlier, it was mentioned that hydrotherapy is done to improve physical movement and help treat injuries and conditions caused by overuse in the joints and muscles. Both cold and hot water hydrotherapy has impressive benefits to the body and has become the best exercise for many otherwise limited people with its low-impact feature.
Benefits of cold-water hydrotherapy:
Reduces pain in the joints and muscles
Reduces risk of inflammation
Lowers the body temperature
Ease symptoms of mental health conditions such as depression
Boosts the immune system
Benefits of hot-water hydrotherapy:
Reduces pain in the joints and muscles
Controls normal blood flow
Relieves stress
Prevents headaches
Relaxes muscles
In addition to that, hydrotherapy is suitable for maintaining skin health and helps treat skin conditions such as atopic dermatitis or eczema, and burns. Hydrotherapy done with thermal spring water helps reduce dryness and inflammation caused by the said condition. People who have tried hydrotherapy for their eczema have reported having reduced itching, fewer scabs, and less skin dryness after three weeks of hydrotherapy.
For burns, warm-water hydrotherapy is used to help speed up the healing process of a burn injury by softening the skin and removing dead tissue, allowing new and healthy skin tissue to form. In addition to that, hydrotherapy for burns can also clean the wound naturally and remove unnecessary bacteria from it.
Overall, hydrotherapy is a great treatment option for those seeking relief from joint and muscle conditions, injuries, mental health problems, and even relief for chronic body pain.
How Does Hydrotherapy Help People With Disabilities?
Hydrotherapy is a wonder. This treatment involves using water to provide exercise, relief, and comfort. It is incredibly beneficial for people with multiple sclerosis and cerebral palsy, as well as injured athletes. The best part is that it doesn’t only help them physically. According to the experts, it improves the patient’s confidence and mental health.
How does it help? Water eliminates the effects of gravity on a body. This helps pain and stress on muscles and joints to be significantly reduced. It is also how people with disabilities can stretch and strengthen their weakened arm and leg muscles with a full range of motion. In addition, they can use the weight of the water to help correct their problems in gait and balance. This, as much as anything, helps them on their road to recovery.
Furthermore, since water is more efficient in drawing heat away from the body, hydrotherapy also helps keep the patients’ bodies from overheating, which helps prevent symptoms from worsening. Since warm water has been shown to help increase flexibility, decrease pain, relieve muscle spasms, and improve circulation, it also allows the patient to speed up their recovery process. Thus, it has proven to help patients reduce discomfort from their disabilities and allow them to manage pain. With time, they can get an increased range of movement with consistent hydrotherapy.
Several cases around the world already talk about the wonders of hydrotherapy. This treatment has helped a lot of people with disabilities in dealing with pain and discomfort from their conditions. With time and effort, some disabilities can be overcome, especially with the help of therapy. Suppose you want to reach out to dedicated and tireless physical therapists. In that case, you can reach out to Rebound Health and enjoy your life at 100% capacity.