The Benefits of Water Workouts

Aquatic exercise, or Hydrotherapy, is any exercise performed in warm water. It is a form of exercise often used in rehabilitation for patients with Musculoskeletal and Neurological conditions, Chronic Heart and Lung disease, and Cardiothoracic Rehabilitation.

The effects of buoyancy of the water provides a feeling of weightlessness allowing deconditioned individuals or those with significant pathology or disease to exercise in an environment with can end up with serious less impact on the joints.

Aquatic exercise can, therefor, often begin before land-based exercise to assist in quicker return to function or sports. Being submerged in water also assists in maintaining lower body temperature, therefore allowing longer duration of exercise. Hydrotherapy has been used for thousands of years as a safe form of rehabilitation under the supervision of trained healthcare professional.

Benefits of Aquatic Exercise

• Low impact form of exercise
• Increase muscle strength, endurance, and joint mobility
• Relieve pain and muscle spasm
  • - Therapeutic e ects resulting from the warm temperature of the water
• Improve balance and coordination
  • - Effects of water turbulence result in challenges to balance that must
    be overcome
• Promote relaxation
• Improve quality of life
• Fun and social
  • - Encourage and increase compliance to regular physical activity
  • - Enhancing therapeutic e ects

What does the research say?

Moderate beneficial effects on pain, physical function and quality of life in adults with musculoskeletal conditions. Moderate quality evidence that aquatic exercise may have small, short-term, and clinically relevant effects of patient-reported pain, disability, and quality of life in people with knee and hip osteoarthritis.

Low to moderate quality evidence relative to control suggests that aquatic training is beneficial for improving wellness, symptoms, and fitness in adults with fibromyalgia.

Aquatic exercise improve motor impairments in people with Parkinson’s Disease. Additionally, it has low to moderately greater benefit than land-based exercise on balance capacity, fear of falling and health-rated quality of life.