Aqua therapy

[admin]

My 19 mo. old is starting aquatherapy in a couple of weeks for the first time ever and I was just wondering what to expect. It will be with a PT and for a half hour once a week. He just had the mod quad surgery 2 weeks ago with Dr. Nath. Any thoughts or experiences on this is appreciated. I think he will really like it because he loves swimming, but I have no idea what aqua therapy entails so any advise would help. Thanks, Andrea and Jack.

[jep98056]

I'm not familiar with the aqua therapy techniques used today, but swimming was an integral part of my PT years ago. As I recall it started when I was about 6 or 7 years old and continued until I was 11. I learned all of the basic swimming strokes: crawl, side, back, breast with emphasis on using both arms equally.

I'm confident that your son will enjoy the therapy because I'd expect that the therapist will make it fun while performing the excercises that he needs.

John P. (65, ROBPI)

[Tanya in NY]

My 23 month old has been doing aquatics since February, and what a difference it has made. Lots of ROM in the pool, not to mention that she is more aware of where her arm is in the fluency of the water. Talk with the therapist beforehand if possible. See what they describe it like. Ask if you should come in your swimsuit, too. Our suggested bringing my suit along just in case Amber wasn't too cooperative in the beginning. I never had to actually get in the pool though because she took right to it. Lots of toys there to play with that the kids don't even realize is therapy. There should be some sort of flotation device they have at the pool for your child. We started with a life jacket and have graduated up to the blow up "swimmies" on her arms now. Good luck.

Tanya in NY

[admin]

Hi

Even I have a 19 month old daughter with BPI. dOCTOR SUGGESTED SWIMMING-i AM TOO SCARED OF PUTTIG HER IN THE POOL. i STAY in that part of the country, where there are no trained aquatherapists-Can I get some guidance?

[admin]

Hi

My 19 month old BPI child needs aquatherapy as per the Doctor. However, i see that there is nobody to guide in this part of teh country. Would you please give me few tips?

[admin]

There is an article on ubpn's awareness section about aquatic therapy. http://ubpn.org/awareness (go to resources)

There are also a few articles about aquatic therapy on the nbpepa web site. http://www.nbpepa.org/
(look toward the bottom of the home page)

Here are some more links:
http://www.findapool.com
http://www.aquaticnet.com
http://www.injurednewborn.com/maia/aquatics.html

Many PT's just take kids into the water but if you read the documents and pages above you will see that aqautic therapy is a specialty that requires training. It's been my experience with my daughter that you can't fake it in the pool - it's easy to tell who is trained in aquatics and who isn't. If you get someone knowledgeable and experienced with kids in the water, you can make unbelievable progress. (I'm telling you this because if you are paying big bucks to get aquatic therapy, you should make sure that you get someone who is trained and find out how many hours of training they received.) Another key factor to success in aquatics is temperature of the water. A true therapy pool is somewhere in the low 90's (90-94 degrees).

On the other hand, if you do not have access to a therapist just get in the water and have fun. It's all great and even splashing is incredible. That list on UBPN's awareness will give you a lot of ideas of what you can do in the water.

Be aware that you are at higher risk for dislocation in the water (joints open up more in the water). If your bpi specialist told you that your child is already at high risk for dislocation, then you might want to do something that may help it be less risky: kinesiotaping, theratogs or a compression brace for when they are in the water.

[claudia]

We started aquatherapy when Juliana was 6 months old. Ours was designed like a "mommy and me" in the water. So, suited up I went!! It was about 45 minutes long, in a heated pool. There were about 15 parents with their babies and two therapists, one an ot the other a pt. The program was run through a local school for the disabled.

Juliana loved it, and so did I! I made friends with the other moms (and dads) and looked forward to my time with them. We had a huge range of disabilities, and it made it that much more interesting. Plus, as depressed as I was about Juliana, there were kids struggling far more. And, there were kids who were going to be fine.

We played games and sang songs (some of which my kids still sing!!!!). We played water basketball, we poured water on our hands, heads, mom's hands, mom's head... The therapists tailored the same game to all of the different disabilities. They encouraged Juliana to use both hands, to do it with her left hand only...and later on, to talk.

Juliana learned to swim early and I credit this program with teaching her. We didn't do strokes but her level of comfort in the water was very high.

At the younger ages, she wore a Speedo floatation suit. It has 6 blowup "bladders" that you slide into the fabric of the suit. As she got better and better in the pool, I removed some of the bladders, until she really outweighed the 2 remaining bladders. The suit didn't have any floatation material under the arms, so it allowed her to feel like it was a regular suit. I found it very helpful as she gained confidence and let her "swim" to the therapists.

Juliana is now a fairly accomplished swimmer. We start swim lessons at the JCC today. She even swam through pre-school, as the pre-school was at the JCC and they would bring them to the pool for lessons after school.

Good luck and enjoy it. She has such fond memories that every time we drive past that school she mentions it.

claudia

[admin]

Null, This was interesting to find out that water therapy poses a higher risk for dislocation. Worries me since James played in the pool all summer.

[admin]

Priscilla -when you are playing in the pool your shoulder is most probably OUT Of the water. But when you are doing therapy in the pool to work on your shoulder, and they (should) keep you in the pool floating a little lower so that your shoulder is IN the water, that's where the risk becomes a bit higher. So don't worry about playing ok?

[claudia]

Priscilla:
As I said, Juliana started with aquatherapy when she was 6 months old. We never had a problem with dislocation issues. The pool is an incredible place for bpi kids to do therapy without even knowing they are doing therapy.

Please do not worry.

claudia