Sandy Physical Therapy and Aquatics

10/05/2021

Why Water Part IV - the respiratory system

With the recent COVID-19 pandemic, a lot of attention has been focused on the respiratory system. Typically, respiratory therapists are charged with exercises to improve the lungs capacity to take in air and oxygen, but physical therapy is also a partner player in improving the capacity and efficiency of the respiratory system. So what are the effects of water on breathing and why is breathing important aside from sustaining life?

Water immersion to the chest and up to the neck places pressure (that same hydrostatic pressure previously mentioned) on the chest wall challenging the muscles of inspiration, assisting with expiration. It is a very graded way to naturally improve the strength of breathing muscles and the capacity of the lungs to inflate and take in more oxygen from the air. Deep breathing, especially with movement, assists in reducing stress/pain/tension by helping to turn off the prevalence of fight or flight responses in the body! Ai Chi, similar to Tai Chi, but in water, is one of the more effective ways of practicing coordinated breathing and movement to help in many areas of rehab.

09/22/2021

Why Water Part III - the nervous system

Continuing on from part II, hydrostatic pressure leading to improved function and efficiency of the heart also contributes to improved blood flow to the central (brain/spinal cord) nervous system and the peripheral (nerves around and into the rest of the body) nervous system! In addition, warm water has been proven an effective way to reduce the sympathetic nervous system's hold on fight or flight response/anxiety/stress/tension. What does that do for you?

That leads to an increase in relaxation, reduction in pain, improved mood/focus/attention, and even helps to improve sleep patterns - all of which are important components to healing and rehabilitation!

08/31/2021

WHY WATER Part II - The Heart
There is MUCH more to the positive effects of water than just reducing weight and decompression of your joints! There are many physiological changes that occur in the body just by immersing it into water. If the water is warm, many of those effects are enhanced.

Let's consider the heart and its function while the body is immersed in water up to shoulder depth. Because of hydrostatic pressure exerted on the body, venous blood flow is compressed, especially at the legs, which increases the volume of blood in the chest or thorax. That increase in blood volume helps the heart to be more efficient.

In other words the heart will pump out up to nearly 20% more blood in one minute, but do so at a 15% reduced pace or heart rate. -

And that change helps facilitate other changes within several other body systems!

08/31/2021

WHY WATER Part I - Unloading
Ever wonder why water is a great medium for many forms of rehabilitation and therapy? The easy answer is the most commonly known reason - water reduces the weight on your joints! By reducing the compression against a joint, it helps to alleviate pain and moves more freely. The more free movement you have, the happier your joints will be.

08/24/2021

Continuing the post trend on pain science... for those interested or suffering from chronic pain of any kind, consider listening to this presentation, again by Dr. Mosely. This is a long one, so grab some popcorn. If interested in a patient's experience, consider listening to Carol's story at about minute marker 49. The whole session is worth listening to!

In Sept '19 Flippin' Pain hosted it's 1st event as part of a public health campaign to raise awareness of the problem of persistent pain and bring an underst...

08/18/2021

PAIN - The following video is a nice introduction to the science behind pain. It was recorded about 10 years ago by Lorimer Mosely. Dr Mosely is a physical therapist and pain researcher (one of the most well recognized in the world) from Australia. We will visit his work and presentations frequently to help you understand more about pain - the nervous system's role in it, the rest of the body's response to it, how much control you do or don't have in feeling it, and options to treat it.

Why do we hurt?Do we actually experience pain, or is it merely illusion?In this video, Lorimer Moseley explores these questions, and position the pain that w...

08/18/2021

After a loooong social media hiatus, we are back! Look to our page to see updates about our clinic and learn about a variety of symptoms and conditions that are commonly treated by aquatic therapy.