Recovery is not a linear process. There are times when you can see dramatic improvements and times when the environment can be the difference between stalling out and moving forward. For patients with post-surgical rehabilitation, debilitating joint conditions, neurological conditions, or any condition where the demands of land-based exercise are currently too painful or mechanically challenging to perform at therapeutic intensity, the environment becomes an important variable.
The unique properties of water – buoyancy, hydrodynamic resistance and hydrostatic pressure – allow the simultaneous reduction of the mechanical strain on the damaged or recovering structures while the therapeutic movement stimulus is still applied. For some patients, at some points in their recovery, aquatic therapy is not an option for physical therapy. It is the way to rehabilitation when all other options fail.
The Motion Plus Aquatic & Therapy Center at iMotion Physical Therapy in San Jose is built on this principle, with the capacity for clinical aquatic therapy and comprehensive land-based rehabilitation services to be combined under one roof, with the expertise to deliver the right combination of both to meet each patient’s individual rehabilitation needs.
What Makes Aquatic Therapy Clinically Different
Understanding why aquatic therapy at a dedicated Motion Plus Aquatic & Therapy Center produces outcomes that land-only facilities cannot begins with the physics.
The buoyancy effect decreases the weight the musculoskeletal system has to bear, depending on the depth of immersion. If immersed to the shoulder, the patient is supporting 10 percent of their body weight. To the waist, 50 percent. This progressive unloading of weight allows a therapeutic exercise environment where movement can be performed at a level of loading that would be contraindicated on land, allowing progressive rehabilitation of the healing tissues prior to being subjected to full mechanical loads.
For a patient six weeks post total knee replacement, walking on land at full body weight may still be painful and produce the swelling and inhibition that sets recovery back. In the pool at shoulder depth, the same patient can practice normal gait mechanics, rebuild quadriceps activation, and work on balance and coordination without the loading that provokes the inflammatory response. The neuromuscular training benefit of this early movement practice consistently translates into faster functional recovery milestones compared to programs that defer meaningful movement training until full weight-bearing is well-established.
The resistance that water exerts on movement (hydrodynamic resistance) is directly proportional to the speed of movement. This provides a progressive resistance training environment: slow movements offer little resistance, and fast movements offer more. The ability for patients to adjust to the intensity of the exercise by adjusting their speed makes the pool a safe and adaptable environment for patients whose condition prevents accurate prescription of external loads. As the patient’s strength and confidence improve, progression is automatic and instantaneous without the need to change equipment or weight.
The hydrostatic pressure of the water surrounding the body has two distinct benefits. It helps decrease peripheral swelling of tissues, which is beneficial in the early phases of post-surgical or post-injury rehabilitation when edema control is important. And it increases the proprioceptive stimulus to the joints and muscles, which helps the body to better sense its position and movement, with benefits for balance retraining and neuromuscular rehabilitation.
Who Benefits Most From Aquatic Therapy
The benefits of aquatic therapy are greatest for certain patient groups, and this knowledge helps patients and their referring practitioners understand when an aquatic & therapy center environment provides the greatest clinical benefit.
One of the major beneficiary groups is post-surgical patients. Following knee arthroplasty, hip arthroplasty, spinal surgery or lower extremity reconstruction, the combination of post-surgical swelling, healing times, and pain associated with early weight-bearing creates a clinical scenario in which land-based exercise is either contraindicated or so painful that the dose of exercise is limited by patient tolerance. The buoyancy of aquatic therapy allows the patients the motion and strengthening they need without the stresses that they can’t tolerate.
Patients with advanced osteoarthritis – whose joint pain during land-based exercise has become so severe they avoid movement altogether, leading to deconditioning and further pain and disability – discover the pool is a place where therapeutic exercise can be performed comfortably for the first time in months or years. The decreased pain during aquatic exercise often allows patients to gain the muscle activation, joint mobility and functional confidence required to transition to land-based exercise.
Patients with neurological conditions, such as those recovering from stroke, living with multiple sclerosis, or struggling with the motor challenges of Parkinson’s disease, find the combination of reduced risk of falling, increased proprioceptive feedback, and the freedom of movement afforded by water a unique therapeutic exercise opportunity. Patients can practice balance retraining in the pool with weight shifts, steps, and dynamic balance challenges at a level of confidence and safety that is not possible on the gym or clinic floor at the same challenge level.
Patients with obesity-related joint disease, fibromyalgia, or widespread pain often find aquatic therapy to be the only exercise environment in which they are able to exercise at therapeutic intensity without the pain exacerbation that land-based exercise causes in their particular conditions.
The Integrated Approach at Motion Plus Aquatic and Therapy Center
What distinguishes the motion plus aquatic & therapy center at iMotion Physical Therapy San Jose from standalone aquatic fitness facilities is the clinical integration of aquatic therapy within a comprehensive rehabilitation program.
The difference between the Motion Plus Aquatic & Therapy Center at iMotion Physical Therapy San Jose and aquatic fitness clubs is that aquatic therapy is integrated into a clinical program.
At iMotion, aquatic therapy is not a stand-alone intervention. It is one component of a treatment program that integrates aquatic therapy in the pool with manual therapy and progressive exercise on land; advanced technologies such as laser therapy and shockwave therapy (when indicated); and the movement quality and education work that results in the outcomes patients seek.
The clinical team at iMotion San Jose combines aquatic therapy expertise with the full breadth of physical therapy training and treatment capability that iMotion’s rehabilitation philosophy is built around. For patients in San Jose, Santa Clara, Cupertino, and the surrounding communities managing conditions that make land-based rehabilitation insufficient or inaccessible, the motion plus aquatic and therapy center at iMotion is the clinical environment that changes what recovery can look like.
Ready to explore aquatic therapy as part of your recovery program? Contact iMotion Physical Therapy San Jose to schedule an evaluation. San Jose: (408) 275-1500 | Fremont: (510) 745-7700 | Los Gatos: (408) 358-3631 | Visit imotionpt.com to learn more about aquatic therapy and request an appointment online.