Does your child enjoy being in the water? Did you know that there are therapeutic interventions that can be done in

the water? We have some very exciting news!! PMC will soon be expanding their therapeutic offerings to include

aquatic therapy.

What is Aquatic Therapy?

It’s just like it sounds! Your child can do PT, OT, or Speech therapy in an aquatic environment. Your therapist will use

the properties of the water to enhance their therapy program and reach short term goals that can then be carried over

outside of the pool.

What are the benefits of Aquatic Therapy?

As someone who has spent a significant portion of her career in and around pools (as well as most of her childhood),

I can tell you there are SO many benefits to being able to do various therapies in an aquatic environment!

Here are just some of the many benefits:

• Buoyancy can help your child to maintain because it floats the body.
• The warm water of a therapy pool (around 85 degrees) can help your child to relax tight muscles, increase

         ROM, and decrease high tone

• Warm water can help to decrease muscle spasticity and rigidness and has been shown to have some carry

         over outside of the pool

• The water can also add resistance to movements and help your child increase strength.
• For children recovering from fractures, working in the pool can help decrease pain which can lead to your

         child returning to a normal gait pattern sooner

• For children who have increased sensory needs, the water can give them additional sensory input and allow

         them to be able to focus more on their therapy goals

Aquatics is also a great way to add variation to your child’s therapy routine. Working on goals in a new

environment can help to give them a boost of confidence and then be able to carry over those skills out of the water.

Who will benefit from being in the pool?

There are so many varying diagnoses that have been shown to benefit from working in an aquatic environment.

These are some of the common diagnoses we treat here at PMC:

• Cerebral palsy
• Down syndrome
• HIE
• Developmental coordination disorder
• Autism spectrum disorders
• Traumatic brain injury
• Spina bifida
• Fractures
• Various decreases in ROM
• Sensory processing disorder
• Neuromuscular disorders

If you might be interested in having your child participate in aquatics as a part of their current plan of care, please speak to

your child’s therapist or give our clinic a call. Aquatics will only be available at the Hagerstown location; but it is open to all PMC patients as deemed appropriate by your therapist to work towards achieving your child’s goals. If you're interested in becoming a patient at PMC, please contact our clinic to schedule your child's evaluation(s).

Huge thank you to one of PMC's  very own PTAs, Meghan Tullos, for sharing her knowledge and experience with us!