1. What should I bring to the hydrotherapy room?
You will need your own swimming suit, swimming cap, towel, shampoo and shower gel. Please also bring doctor's prescription, your health insurance card, as well as the hydrotherapy (yellow) card.
2. What is hydrotherapy? Will there be a therapist to guide me along the way?
A therapist will give individually-tailored instructions for aquatic exercise based on the doctor's diagnosis, your current body condition and your rehabilitation progress. In the early stages of therapy, three to four hydrotherapy sessions per week are recommended. Each session should be at least 40 minutes long, which consists of a 20-minute group exercise and 20 minutes of individual exercises.
3. Is the pool clean? How often is the pool cleaned?
The water temperature is kept at 33°C to 36.5°C, with seasonal adjustments. The indoor temperature is around 25°C, humidity around 70% and the water quality is closely monitored by a 24-hour circulatory filtration system. Two water quality tests are carried out daily to ensure that chlorine levels are kept between 0.3-0.7 ppm, and the pH kept between 7.3-7.6. The pool is thoroughly cleaned once a month.
4. I can't swim. What can I do?
First and foremost, the therapist will help you to get accustomed to the aquatic environment, especially for patients with polio, cerebral palsy, spinal injury, stroke, Parkinson's disease or autism. Then the therapist will guide you from the basics: holding your breath underwater, floating etc. to gain increasing freedom in the pool.
5. I cannot even walk on land. How can I get in the pool to exercise?
Handicapped persons can enter the pool via a seat lift, or ease themselves into the pool from the poolside platform.
6. Should I do group exercises with everyone else?
There are four group exercise sessions each day, each for 20 minutes: 9:20 AM, 10:20 AM, 2:20 PM and 3:20 PM. Every patient should attend at least one during each therapy session. Patients new to hydrotherapy are advised to schedule their hydrotherapy sessions at either 10 AM or 3 PM and avoid the children's session on Friday afternoons.
Patients should do rehabilitation exercises both during hydrotherapy and at home. Practice with patience and resolve and carefully observe the quality of your movements. Group exercise instructions are posted on the wall around the pool. Patients with shoulder pain should emphasize exercises marked with a red circle and patients with knee problems should emphasize those marked in blue. Performing these group exercises should cause no pain: the intensity should be tailored to individual capabilities.
For more advanced patients, we perform Ai Chi: an exercise that can help balance the autonomic nervous system, provide deep relaxation, relieve stress, reinforce the quality of sleep, and increase muscle strength and coordination. Medical literature also demonstrates the effectiveness of hydrotherapy in joint flexibility, balance control etc.
7. How many times should I do hydrotherapy? How do I continue receiving hydrotherapy?
Upon the doctor's prescription, each patient will have six (6) hydrotherapy sessions. After the last therapy session we will schedule a follow-up appointment for you.
You will need your own swimming suit, swimming cap, towel, shampoo and shower gel. Please also bring doctor's prescription, your health insurance card, as well as the hydrotherapy (yellow) card.
2. What is hydrotherapy? Will there be a therapist to guide me along the way?
A therapist will give individually-tailored instructions for aquatic exercise based on the doctor's diagnosis, your current body condition and your rehabilitation progress. In the early stages of therapy, three to four hydrotherapy sessions per week are recommended. Each session should be at least 40 minutes long, which consists of a 20-minute group exercise and 20 minutes of individual exercises.
3. Is the pool clean? How often is the pool cleaned?
The water temperature is kept at 33°C to 36.5°C, with seasonal adjustments. The indoor temperature is around 25°C, humidity around 70% and the water quality is closely monitored by a 24-hour circulatory filtration system. Two water quality tests are carried out daily to ensure that chlorine levels are kept between 0.3-0.7 ppm, and the pH kept between 7.3-7.6. The pool is thoroughly cleaned once a month.
4. I can't swim. What can I do?
First and foremost, the therapist will help you to get accustomed to the aquatic environment, especially for patients with polio, cerebral palsy, spinal injury, stroke, Parkinson's disease or autism. Then the therapist will guide you from the basics: holding your breath underwater, floating etc. to gain increasing freedom in the pool.
5. I cannot even walk on land. How can I get in the pool to exercise?
Handicapped persons can enter the pool via a seat lift, or ease themselves into the pool from the poolside platform.
6. Should I do group exercises with everyone else?
There are four group exercise sessions each day, each for 20 minutes: 9:20 AM, 10:20 AM, 2:20 PM and 3:20 PM. Every patient should attend at least one during each therapy session. Patients new to hydrotherapy are advised to schedule their hydrotherapy sessions at either 10 AM or 3 PM and avoid the children's session on Friday afternoons.
Patients should do rehabilitation exercises both during hydrotherapy and at home. Practice with patience and resolve and carefully observe the quality of your movements. Group exercise instructions are posted on the wall around the pool. Patients with shoulder pain should emphasize exercises marked with a red circle and patients with knee problems should emphasize those marked in blue. Performing these group exercises should cause no pain: the intensity should be tailored to individual capabilities.
For more advanced patients, we perform Ai Chi: an exercise that can help balance the autonomic nervous system, provide deep relaxation, relieve stress, reinforce the quality of sleep, and increase muscle strength and coordination. Medical literature also demonstrates the effectiveness of hydrotherapy in joint flexibility, balance control etc.
7. How many times should I do hydrotherapy? How do I continue receiving hydrotherapy?
Upon the doctor's prescription, each patient will have six (6) hydrotherapy sessions. After the last therapy session we will schedule a follow-up appointment for you.