Water allows us endless possibilities, especially in people who have difficulty moving (for example, due to brain or spinal cord damage) or cognitive impairments (infantile cerebral palsy, autism, etc.). In the water, many times, everything is easier.
The aquatic environment provides us with great benefits:
-
- Greater motor control and constant brain learning
- Improvement of the cardiorespiratory system
- Relaxation
- Increases the alert system and improves sensory integration
- Improves patient confidence and safety
Greater motor control and constant brain learning
Water reduces the action of gravity and allows us to play with buoyancy to achieve objectives that cannot be obtained in a work room, such as standing, walking, reaching, running, jumping… In addition, to move within the water it is not necessary to make as much effort as outside of it. The recruitment of motor units to carry out an action is less, which allows it to be repeated continuously. In other words, water allows us to move easily and economically, and this makes our brain learn faster.
Improvement of the cardiorespiratory system
When we get into the water and it reaches the height of our chest, the resistance it generates on our chest means that just by being submerged our respiratory system works 60{e82d97dd9764c61214c58cac6dd9b37da6ffa5921c380452d273401b1dd0074a} more than out of the water. If a specific training is added to this characteristic to increase cardiac output, we can reinforce and improve our cardiorespiratory system.
Relaxation
Thanks to the high water temperature between 32-34º, the muscles relax and blood pressure and heart rate decrease, causing our body to lower its activity. If this is combined with a relaxation therapy, the person receiving the session can obtain great benefits such as, reduction of stress, anxiety and even pain.
Increases the alert system and improves sensory integration
Water activates all our senses. When we get into it, our proprioceptive, tactile and vestibular systems are activated, but also the hearing, smell and sight also experience new sensations by simply entering the enclosure of a pool. This sensory change often allows to increase the alert system and therefore be able to work better. It also favors sensory integration in people who outside this environment find it very difficult to regulate themselves.
Improves patient confidence and safety
Water is an environment where therapist and patient are exactly the same, we are in a situation where hardly any clothes are worn and where what is shown is our true self and therefore the patient gains confidence and security in himself.
Aquatic therapy is described as «A therapy program that uses the properties of water, designed by an appropriately qualified and properly trained therapist. The session is specifically for an individual, where the objective is to improve the functions that are impaired. The hydrotherapy pool must have adequate conditions and temperature for this “(ATACP, 2008).
