Using Your Inground Pool For Physical Therapy

When you've been injured the results are devastating. Even minor injuries can severely impact your life when they limit your physical mobility. Therapists are now exploring the benefits of using hydrotherapy to speed patients' recovery, using their in-ground swimming pool to work their muscles, strengthen their joints and provide a low impact, full body workout that will put them on the path to recovery more quickly than any ordinary therapy program.

The major benefit of doing physical therapy in an in-ground pool is that it's suitable for almost any type of injury. Physical therapists prefer it over traditional forms of therapy, particularly for patients just beginning their physical therapy, because the water takes the weight off of the patients' injured limbs. Legs that can barely stand on land and that suffer from the effects of gravity while sitting are bouyant and weightless in the water, allowing them to flex, stretch and begin to rebuild.

Because the water in your inground pool takes the weight off of your injuries it also makes it a great low impact workout. Traditional physical therapy for patients' whose physical mobility has been severely impacted involves plenty of walking, which even with bars places stress on injured limbs. The water's natural resistance allows the damaged muscles to strengthen without suffering further injury, making physical therapy not only possible but also much more enjoyable for the patient.

Why an inground pool? Even the largest aboveground pools really aren't large enough to allow you to maximize your therapy. A pool you can lie flat and touch on all sides with a few strokes might be perfectly adequate for the beginning stages of your recovery, but farther down the road it's going to be less than useless. With an inground pool you can start small and still have room to grow as your body begins to regain its strength and flexibility.

You're going to be reaping the benefits of your recovery for years in increased muscle strength, flexibility and the ability to move on with your life, but when you add an inground pool to your home as part of your physical therapy program you receive an added bonus-a small piece of paradise in your backyard you can enjoy for years after you have finished with your recovery.

Physical therapy is difficult, it's tiring, and there are going to be many days when it feels like it's more frustration than it's worth; however, hydrotherapy in your inground pool can add pleasure to the pain, speed your recovery and make physical therapy a pleasure rather than a trial.