So I attended my first hydrotherapy session and I really enjoyed it. I was able to use the access stepped ramp to get in rather than be hoisted. I have been hoisted once when I tried to get some exercise at my local swimming pool which I found to be a horrendous experience. I felt vulnerable and hated being the circus freak show entertainment for the group of schoolchildren in for their swimming lesson! Still if it had been necessary I would have used it today, with only two other patients there at the time I am sure my dignity would have managed to stay intact!
The water was warm, like a cool bath. It came up to my armpit level. The first thing I had to get used to was the buoyancy of the water being so long since I was last in a pool I was not prepared for its effects. I felt like a cork bobbing about, terribly unsteady! I hoped that as I am “weeble” shaped that I might have their wonderous gravity defying properties because “weebles wobble but they don’t fall down!” (now who remembers playing with them! Anyway I was asked to make my way around to where there was a chair mounted on the pool wall.
Photograph from http://www.vectis.co.uk/Page/ViewLot.aspx?LotId=76233
The first exercise was to curl my leg under me as while sitting. Pulling my foot upwards to stretch the muscles in the back of my legs and curling my leg under me as far as I was able, feeling the stretch along the top of my thigh. Ten reps on each leg while letting the warmth get to work all over me. Next was simply standing, using my arms on the rails to hold some of the weight while bearing as much weight on my bad leg as I could tolerate, swapping to the other leg for rest breaks and taking a little more weight each repetition. By now I could feel my muscles starting to grumble.
Then I had a float collar placed around my neck. I was held as I raised my legs to float on the surface and guided into the corner of the pool where I could rest my head against the wall and hold onto the rails on each side. I felt nervous, like I was going to sink like a stone at any moment but really I was in safe hands but still I gripped those rails for dear life! I was instructed to roll my hips to one side then back to the middle and then off to the other. This was gently stretching my spine and lower back muscles. I did feel pain with this, grimacing, I was told not to stretch so far. To allow my back to slowly relax and stretch. In ten minutes I was able to roll farther and with less pain.
The last exercise was to side step my way across the pool to the ramp. Apart from the off kilter “ Oh hell I am going under any second” feeling this was easy but I know this would be a difficult exercise out of water. Without the benefit of the warmed muscles and the bouyancy relieving much of the pressure of my weight I could not have acheived these movements or sustained activity. Time was up, around fortyish minute had passed in what felt like fifteen! I was pleased with what I had managed. Gentle exercise it may have been but I haven’t sustained any activity for that long in years. I could definitely see a twelve week course of this helping a lot but here’s the kicker..
This was to be my one and only session! The hydrotherapist is going to be working on a separate project with the public swimming pools ran by the local council to raise awareness of the needs of people like myself. To try to bring in better access, times where we could have more privacy, times where they may raise the pool temperature, exercise classes aimed at rehabilitation rather than aerobic style weight loss sessions and the like. Unfortunately they haven’t been able to find another therapist to fill in for the next six months so there will be no more hydrotherapy for patients in the Scottish Borders. While it sounds like a worthy project it leaves an awful lot of people without access to this invaluable healing treatment. I was told to call in six months to find out if it was back on and ask to be seen again. The hydrotherapy pool has been under threat for the last few years. The local council planning to move the facility to a new location, one less accessible and not even built so it would take considerable time to bring into service. I really hope not but I feel the oncoming closure of this valuable facility. Stealth closure perhaps?
Although there is no new official news this report from July last year in the Peebleshire News outlines the councils plans. Although the pool is very well situated at the hospital for patients in the borders I would have no complaints if a new service was up and running in the new location quickly! Cutting the service off for at least six months is bad enough but the prospect of not having it for the foreseeable future is dire indeed. Having only had one session I am able to see just how beneficial and invaluable hydrotherapy is for those in need of injury rehabilitation and those like me with mobility problems and low body strength.
So just my bloody luck! Talk about bad timing! In a way I wish I had never had my first session as I felt so much hope I had found something to help me on my journey to better health. However on the other hand I have a set of exercise that I could easily perform myself or with the help of my husband if I can find a pool warm enough not to make my body scream in agony and cramp up so badly all over that I am practically incapable of movement! So far I have not been able to find any warm water pools but there do seem to be spa pools that might be large enough. I did find a private hydrotherapy pool but the cost was extortionate! They say you can’t put a price on your health but if the price to better health is above your means then that path is closed. Here’s hoping I can locate somewhere not too far away that I could continue this on my own.
As for how I feel afterwards, yes I am sore but it is bearable. I can feel all the muscles I have worked but they are not screaming at me.. yet! I always feel the worst of any activity two days after! I have no idea why it takes that amount of time but I believe an out of proportion and delayed reaction is very common. I feel extremely tired. Most people feel tired after swimming anyway so this is added on top of my usual exhaustion. I slept for three hours straight earlier, something I haven’t managed for a good few months now! The elation of starting this treatment is gone, I felt very low earlier but better now as I have looked into trying to carry on on my own. The therapist said any activity in warm water would be beneficial so I am hopeful I can find a place to continue and not waste more time stagnating at home!
Living with Shadows 
I’m so sorry this has happened to you, especially after such a terrific intro, so different to my experience. I truly hope they can find a therapist and get the program restarted there. To snatch hope away like this is so cruel. Thinking of you
Blessings Susan x
Thank you Susan, i’ll be happy if i am able to at least do a little myself if i can find a pool until i’d be able to re-start officially. i’m just so sick of everything being such a waiting game. the appointment with the consultant i was told i needed to change medications and was classed as urgent came through by letter this week.. another 6 weeks away! late march! sigh! it’s all waiting unless you can afford to go private. our NHS although brilliant just can’t cope.
I know the feeling – we have the same here and I had a rant about it just the other day in a bog #In My Humble Opinion. It almost sounded as if I was auditioning for politics but I felt it needed saying. Paying the price – I’ve been side lined since then, lol
Blessings Susan x
😉 it was a great post
I also hope you can get a therapist
Thank you
Welcome
Good luck, how frustrating that this project had to start now. I hope you manage to find another heated pool that is both affordable and within easy access.
Thank you, i sure hope i do.
I remember Weebles – love ’em! Where did they go?
oh i loved them to bits! i believe they are still out there as they were re-launched in 200 and then 2010, looking quite different. i don’t think they can compete with all the flashy beepy kids toys now.
Your attitude about all this seems excellent–taking initiative to solve a problem gives you a lift!
thank you Kerry, i’m not one to let a good thing go, seeing as there’s no other way than to do something myself i damn well will! lol!
I have been wanting to try this therapy, my wonderful physical therapist recommended it…but unfortunately I think that even if there was a facility around me (there may be, not sure) the cost would make it out of reach
i hope you do get the chance at some point or perhaps try to find a warm pool and look up what exercises to try online. i get annoyed when i think if i lived in the city i would have access to treatments like reflexology, massage, accupuncture, hydrotherapy, etc for free under the national health service. sure there would be a waiting list but i’m used to that but because i live in a rural catchment area there is little to nothing on offer. the cost of private treatments are more than the benefits i have coming in! Then i stop and think to myself well at least my illness is recognised as being real and i do have access to free health care that means i do not have to live with my highest levels of pain constantly, which i could not bear but some have to. so all in all i’m a lucky begger that should be grateful for what i have! lol!
I do get to do chiropractor and acupuncture, which definitely helps some. And massage is great, although I don’t do it right now, as I will only go to someone who is very knowledgeable about fibro. I can’t decide if I am jealous of the free health care, I hear such good things and bad things too. Luckily for me my parents help me in that area, as I would be uninsured and unable to afford meds or doctors without them!
i’ve only tried one massage and it left me in crippling pain for weeks, she was extremely forceful, pushing off against the wall once while she pummelled my shoulder line.. that was where i had enough, i’d asked her to be gentle too! i’m a bit scared to try again because i am so touch sensitive all over my back. I’m glad you have some treatments available to you. i’d have more if i was in a different area. the NHS does a great job, they are just pushed farther than their limits with the budget the government give them and it’s been in crisis the last 5ish years.. the government was it privatised, sold off and that would be a very bad things for people like myself.
Yes, that’s why I haven’t gotten massage regularly in many years, because a masseuse who doesn’t understand fibro can do seriously damage n
Oh gosh I was thinking how amazing that was all sounding and then absolutely gutting to be told that was it!!
I really hope you find a similar alternative and or she comes back how simply gutting.
My boud reacts to stuff one to two days later so I get that and maybe you could find a flotation tank would that work for some exercises?
Hugs x
yes i was gutted at first and angry but there’s nothing to be done about it so i will have to find my own way and hope i can get access to it officially again at some point.
i have had really stiff sides all day today but my hipand bad leg only felt a little more sore than usual so i was really happy with that.
the problem with living rurally is there are very very few health facilities around. i was able to find 3 floatation tanks in all scotland and the one i could get to have awful reviews. nevermind!
Shelly, I wish you all the luck in the world finding another location for your Hydrotherapy. As you have quickly seen any therapy that has an immediate possitive impact is great. The low stress of hydro is wonderful. Years ago, after I had heart surgery, I did a lot of extensive workouts in the pool, like you, it helped greatly, Take care, Bill
Thanks Bill, I am hoping to find somewhere suitable. I am sure it would slowly work to make me stronger. i do feel a bit stiff and sore but not bad and unless i can find somewhere i know that i will lose the benefit of that work. i am determined to get around this block. i am not willing to spend another 6 months sitting on my backside waiting! Having heard from so many people on how it has helped them i am really hopeful.
I sure hope you are able to find a place and can continue doing this on your own. Sometimes life can be so frustrating!
Still looking, there’s a few possibilities, some are a fair distance which would make it a very long day especially how drained you feel afterwards. will kep looking though and my daughter is looking for me at places near her which would mean i’d get to spend time with her too! bonus!
I was trained to teach water aerobics, so I understand how beneficial it is to exercise in water.
Something for you to consider is that recent research is showing that the best amount of time to exercise is 40-45 minutes. That way, your body chemistry is maximally affected in beneficial ways. If you find a place to do hydrotherapy on your own, you might want to keep this in mind, so you don’t rush in and out.
Another principle of exercise is to stop when it still feels good. This reduces the chance of damage, and motivates you to return.
Best wishes!
Thank you, i was in the water around 45mins so this was what i was looking to replicate. great to know that is the time i should be aiming for. i will be wary of pushing myself too far. i have located a lesuire centre in the town my grandad lives that has a large spa pool, not something i could go to weekly but perhaps monthly if we can work it intot he budget!
I am so very sorry to hear about the demise of the therapy. I had hoped for your sake you would find much relief there. That’s just awful.
On a different note, hopefully one that will make YOU smile, YES, I surely DO remember “Weebles”…Hugs and best wishes to something in the way of lasting relief for you…CJ
well it’s something i can’t change so trying not to let it get to me. getting involved with the save the hydrotherapy pool group, signing petitions and looking for alternatives. i have just started a 12 week pain management programme so i have something else to work on now at least. thank you for caring. weebles were wonderful and as a mobility challenged rotund person they are an inspiration to not fall down! heehee