Aquatic therapy

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Aquatic therapy refers to treatments and exercises done in water for relaxation, fitness, physical rehabilitation, and other therapeutic benefits. Usually a qualified aquatic therapist provides a constant presence to a person receiving treatment at a hot therapy pool. Water therapy techniques include Ai Chi, Aqua Running, Bad Ragaz Ring Method, Burdenko Method, Halliwick, Watsu, and other aquatic body forms. Therapeutic applications include neurological disorders, spinal pain, musculoskeletal pain, postoperative postoperative rehabilitation, pediatric disability, and pressure ulcers.

Video Aquatic therapy

Overview

Aquatic therapy refers to water-based treatments or therapeutic exercise intentions, particularly for relaxation, fitness, and physical rehabilitation. Treatments and exercises are performed while floating, partially submerged, or submerged in water. Many aquatic therapy procedures require constant presence by a trained therapist, and are performed in a special temperature-controlled pool. Rehabilitation generally focuses on improving the physical functioning associated with illness, injury, or disability.

Aquatic therapy encompasses a wide range of approaches and techniques, including water sports, physical therapy, aquatic bodywork, and other motion-based therapies in water (hydrokinesiotherapy). Treatment may be passive, involving a therapist or giver and patient or recipient, or active, involving body position, movement, or self-generated exercise. Examples include Halliwick Aquatic Therapy, Bad Ragaz Ring Methods, Watsu, and Ai chi.

For orthopedic rehabilitation, aquatic therapy is considered synonymous with therapeutic water sports, aqua therapy, aquatic rehabilitation, water therapy, and pool therapy. Aquatic therapy can support the restoration of function for many orthopedic fields, including sports medicine, work conditioning, joint arthroplasty, and rehab programs. Strong aquatic components are particularly useful for therapeutic programs where limited or non-heavy bearings are desired and where normal functioning is limited by inflammation, pain, preservation, muscle spasms, and limited range of motion (ROM). Water provides a controllable environment for weak muscle reeducation and skill development for neurological and neuromuscular disorders, acute orthopedic or neuromuscular injury, rheumatic disease, or recovery from recent surgery.

The various properties of water contribute to therapeutic effects, including the ability to use water for resistance in gravity or gravity; thermal stability that allows maintenance of nearly constant temperature; supportive and stabilizing hydrostatic pressures, and which affect the functioning of the heart and lungs; buoyancy that allows buoys and reduces the effects of gravity; and turbulence and wave propagation that allow for gentle manipulation and movement.

Maps Aquatic therapy

Technique

Aquatic therapy techniques include the following: Ai Chi, developed in 1993 by Jun Konno, uses diaphragmatic breathing and active progressive endurance training in water to relax and strengthen the body, based on qigong elements and Tai chi chuan. Aqua walk (Deep Water Running or Aquajogging) is a form of cardiovascular conditioning, involving running or jogging in water, useful for injured athletes and those who want low-impact aerobic exercise. Aqua runs are done in deep water using a buoy device (vest or belt) to support the head on the water.

Bad Ragaz Ring Method : The Bad Ragaz Ring Method (BRRM) focuses on the rehabilitation of neuromuscular function using therapeutic exercise patterns performed when the patient is lying horizontally in water, with support provided by the ring or floating on around the neck, arms, pelvis, and knees. BRRM is an aquatic version of the Proprioceptive Neuromuscular Facilitation (PNF) developed by physiotherapists in Bad Ragaz, Switzerland, as a synthesis of aquatic exercises designed by a German physician in the 1930s and ground-based PNF developed by American physiotherapists in the 1950s. and 1960s.

Burdenko's Method : The Burdenko method, originally developed by Soviet sports medicine professor Igor Burdenko, is an integrated groundwater therapy approach that develops balance, co-ordination, flexibility, endurance, speed and strength. using the same method as a professional athlete. Water-based therapy uses floating equipment to challenge the buoyancy center in a vertical position, exercising with movement in various directions, and at various speeds from slow to fast. The Halliwick Concept, originally developed by fluid mechanics engineer James McMillan in the late 1940s and 1950s at Halliwick School for Girls with Disabilities in London, focused on biophysical principles motor control in water, in particular developing equilibrioception and core stability. The Halliwick Ten-Point-Program implements the concept in a progressive program of mental adjustment, release, and development of motor control, with an emphasis on rotational control, and implements a program to teach the balance of physically handicapped people control, swim, and independence. Halliwick Aquatic Therapy (also known as Water Specific Therapy, WST), applies the concept in the patient's aquatic therapies. Watsu is a form of aquatic bodywork, originally developed in the early 1980s by Harold Dull at Harbin Hot Springs, California, where aquatic therapists continue to support and guide people who receive treatment through a series of movements flowing and stretching that leads to deep relaxation and provides therapeutic benefits. In the late 1980s and early 1990s physiotherapists began using Watsu for a variety of orthopedic and neurological conditions, and to adjust the technique for use with injury and disability.

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Applications and effectiveness

Applications of aquatic therapy include neurological disorders, spinal pain, musculoskeletal pain, postoperative postoperative rehabilitation, pediatric disability, and pressure ulcers.

A systematic review of the effects of aquatic interventions in children with neuromotor disorders in 2006 found "a lack of significant evidence-based studies that evaluate the specific effects of aquatic intervention in this population".

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Professional training and certification

Aquatic therapy is carried out by a variety of professionals with specialized training and certification requirements.

For medical purposes, aquatic therapy, as defined by the American Medical Association (AMA), may be performed by a range of law-enforced care professionals with a range of practices that enable them to offer such services and are permitted to use the AMA Current Procedural Terminology (CPT) code.

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References

Source of the article : Wikipedia