Hydrotherapy

Hydrotherapy is the generic term for water therapies using underwater massage, water jets, mineral baths, bubbles and floatation to leave you relaxed and alleviate aches and pains.

What is hydrotherapy?

Hydrotherapy is the generic term for water therapies using underwater massage, water jets, mineral baths, bubbles and floatation to leave you relaxed and alleviate aches and pains. Hydrotherapy pools are usually different from ordinary pools - the temperature, pressure and movement of water is controlled and changed according to who's using the pool, and why.

However, you could have hydrotherapy in any water or pool as it is a lot to do with movement. Doctors often prescribe a course of hydrotherapy as part of a treatment programme. It is also used by athletes to improve and maintain their general health and fitness, and by others as part of a healthy whole-body routine.

Just spending time massaging your aching shoulders under a swan pipe or letting the magic bubbles of a Jacuzzi loosen your muscles can leave you more relaxed and less tense.

What is hydrotherapy good for?

Being immersed, buoyant or massaged in water can relieve our bodies in a variety of different ways, and hydrotherapy can help with many physical and emotional complaints, including:

* back pain

* rheumatic pain and arthritis

* anxiety and stress

* poor muscle and skin tone

* poor circulation

* muscle pain and inflammation

* headaches

* hip or other joint replacements (before and after the operations)

* muscle or ligament injuries; broken limbs

* neurological conditions such as strokes or brain injuries