Access to Hydrotherapy pools

veriterc

There is a fantastic Aqua Treadmill installed at The Circle Hospital in Reading.  A basic treadmill, enclosed by glass, so when doors are closed it can be filled with warm water which supports you as you exercise.  I understand Circle are installing these in a Birmingham centre - and let's hope more.  This is run by a private company (£55 half hour session), but as it is much cheaper to install than a hydrotherapy pool maybe the NHS might look at the benefits?  

newborn

This country has plenty of publicly funded hydro pools, which are empty the majority of the day, and year. They are in hospitals and in special needs schools.  

Has research proved that mobility impaired, arthritic, pain filled people have absolutely  no need for exercise, although  daily pulse raising e exercise is essential for everyone else the entire population,  who are physically able to  go for a run or work out in a gym?

Has research proved that special needs school pupils need hydrotherapy during week days and never during school holidays ?

Has research proved that the moment those pupils reach school leaving age, they cease needing exercise for the rest of their lives?

If these things are not  facts,  why have those in power designed public  health and exercise provision  as if they are?

veriterc

You are right - and it's yet another example of NHS funding that isn't spent correctly.

Fernie

Years ago whilst suffering with many back ailments following a car accident, I didn't know hydrotherapy was a thing, but after a very long recovery, realised the local aquafit classes really helped.77

I lived in NZ, 4 years ago, and injured myself snowboarding. I then found out I had a problem with my hips that was not caused but exacerbated by the snowboarding mishap. Whilst waiting for surgery, the local leisure centre had a whole lane dedicated to aquajogging. I was introduced to aquajogging by my flatmate. Her dad is an ironman athelete, and they use aquajogging for fitness training, epecially when they injure themselves. Apparently in her home country of Germany its very popular, so it seems in NZ. 

I moved back to the UK to have surgery, My nearby pool in Newmarket had a session called Aqua gym, where they had 6 pieces of gym equipment bolted to the side of the kiddies pool. The depth was set to 150cm (moving floor) and you could rotate and exercise on each piece of equipment. I found the equipment quite restrictive, but it did get people on GP referrals moving and gently exercising. What I found helpful was that when I attempted to aquajog in the deep end of a regular lane in the regular main pool, I am much slower than the slowest breast strokers in the slow lane, and they find I get in the way. Also the pool temperature is too cold.

So I used these aquagym sessions in the nice warm, deep kids pool to get back to being able to walk unaided again. 3 years later of 'normalness' and I've had a relapse big time. I've gone back to the pool to find that they only offer one after office hours evening class, and very few in the day time. Also they don't have an on duty lifeguard in the closed kids pool in the evening, and the main pool has only one session from 5pm per week for a standard swim if I want to brave the cold main pool. Now its all kids lessons. Which I suppose is down to cut backs. 

Its such a bloomin shame that aquajogging, hydrotherapy etc is just not a thing here in the UK. If I was a dog, there are 4 odd hydrotherapy pools within 20 miles of us!

Like mentioned above, its easier to prescribe ££££ pills rather than invest in keeping people healthy. The other thing I really struggle with is getting from the changing rooms to the pool on crutches, its like an ice rink!!! It is the only thing in my life where I would like the assistance of a carer, as i'm petrified of slipping and falling on my hips. I need to find some easy slide grippy shoes to wear pool side. 

Can anyone head up a non  specific disability campaign/petition for this?

April2018mom

This is a good idea. The only aquatherapy pool I know of is at Stanmore Hospital. We are currently looking at the options for aqua therapy for DS as well. I’m assuming that it’s purely a funding issue. If anyone knows of any therapy pools in Surrey please let me know. This is a notoriously difficult topic on which I can find very little information to help me make a decision. What are the benefits of aqua therapy? Is it free or not? 

Fernie

In terms of free or not, some clinics or consultants can refer to service where you are assisted through moves etc to do in a pool. Some charities offer a service for various disabled groups or for adults with learning disabilities. Think of it a bit like physiotherapy in a pool. The resistance of the water aids building muscle strength but also being in water takes pressure off your joints nerves and muscles so people find it easier and perhaps less painful to do movements under the water.

Also hydrotherapy can be done alone. For example a physio I know in the North of England sells a booklet of Hydrotherapy exercises to be done after a hip arthroscopy (the op I had). This does not need a special referal, anyone can buy the book or look up similar exercises on the Internet and go to any pool that is suitable and do them.

What is annoying there is no national website that collates the organisations, and locations where this is done.. And thr variety of services and who they ate open to or suitable for vary wildly. 

newborn

The *temperature* is the vital difference.  There are physical effects of bath-hot heat.  The pain eases, the muscles relax, the stiff joints can move, the  sinoveal fluid changes.  Cold water makes arthritic joints seize, makes joints rigid, makes muscles tense. Attempts to exercise in those circumstances can cause pain, damage and further  injury.

There are special gyms with powered passive/active equipment, gently vibrating plates for wheelchair users to place their feet on, and individual hydro boxes,  fitted with treadmills and cycles and hoists, as well as pools with lift chairs and resistance flows and underwater treadmills and balance balls and more.

The route from home to centre through changing and showering  and  safe access to exercise all needs planning, to ensure it does not unlawfully exclude aged and disabled potential  service users.   Volunteer or apprentice  assistance would facilitate progress, including using a transfer wheelchair or trolley to be taken to and from the changing rooms.

Exercises and activities   and classes that are usually  carried  out by people  lying on the  floor must be carried  out on safe raised benches if they are to be accessible  to millions who are physically incapable of  scrambling up and down from a floor.  

In other countries, and in u.k. ex service centres, specialist  trainers can coach extremely disabled people to gradually increase their balance and strength and work on muscles they cannot otherwise manage.  Walking in  warm water gives both support and resistance, and each person can have tasks tailor made, such as pushing a ball down, or putting an inflated armband round  a foot, and pushing it down.

Athletes would be unable to swim in such warm water.  So public pools  in u.k. are heated to a temperature  originally  set by the now defunct Amateur  Athletic Swimming  Association. Athletes and any perfectly fit healthy people do not need public funding to get exercise. They can go jogging, or pay for gyms with suitable training facilities.   They are greedy not needy. 

Kiddies and babies can use the many publicly funded  playgrounds or  splash and urinate in their own baths.    Healthy people can walk in the park, go dancing, or whatever they wish, all without funding from taxes or n.h.s. 

 The injured and many of the  increasing elderly and  disabled population are the ones who  need publicly funded specialist rehabilitation centres and for the facilities to be available for maintenance of health for people who can * not *   just "take a brisk daily walk".  

lynnm19230

I am moving from Australia to the UK soon, and I am very concerned about access to a hydrotherapy pool. They are so common here! Of course there are hydrotherapy pools in rehabilitation hospitals, but there are also many hydro pools available to the public, with or without a physiotherapist.

I first learned about hydrotherapy after fracturing my C2, pelvis, ribs and having many other injuries in a terrible auto accident in 2012, as it was a key part of my rehabilitation. It is the only form of exercise I like, and I now do it about four times a week. My workout is approx 2 hours, so that is a lot of hydrotherapy!

Here you can use the hydrotherapy pools on a casual basis to do your own routine (or the routine provided by a physiotherapist). There is no requirement to have a physio present. There are times the pool is closed to the public so it can be used for specialist services,  but the public can access it any of the available times--you pay to get in, and you do your routine. It works well because everyone in the pool is doing hydrotherapy (no lap swimming or rough, fast movements, no children playing and splashing about), and when it's busy, everyone of course watches out for each other.

Some (maybe many) people who use hydrotherapy pools here have specific conditions, some permanent and some not, but so many do hydrotherapy exercises to stay fit, particularly elderly people.  It is like a combination of mindfulness and gentle exercise--it is divine!

Why don't the UK hydro pools open up to the paying public??????? It would make the pools much more viable and cost effective, and it would give everyone another health option.

From the posts on here it sounds like hydrotherapy pools are sitting around the UK costing money with very little use.

veriterc

Welcome to Britain, but I hope you don't get too much of a shock. Don't believe the NHS when it says "the NHS is the envy of the world". If it were, other countries would copy it, and although I used to accompany many high-level groups for the Foreign Office who came over in the 1980s (our field hospitals in the Falklands had done incredible things), I don't know one country actually copied what we do in general medicine. 
For cost reasons,public pools here are kept at too low temperatures for genuine hydro.  There are private pools, and these cost around £80 per 1/2 hour on average.  Otherwise it is fight, fight, fight the NHS to stop them closing - and as you say, many are sitting idle. Bizarre! 

Chloe_Alumni

Hi @lynnm19230 and a very warm welcome to the community! It is great to have you hear and I completely understand your apprehension. I've used hydro pools all my life and benefit a great deal from there. There are pools that are in the UK and they often operate like you have said, with it being open to those who need it. 

I hope this helps and it would be a good idea to research the facilitates near where you'd be moving to.

veriterc

In which area do you live?  If it is London,then there are several pools.  But some areas, such as the Thames Valley, are short of facilities.  There are two NHS pools here,and once you have had your official six sessions, and six subsidises sessions,that's you lot,and you can't have any more,however disabled you are. As a polio survivor, weekly hydro sessions kept me mobile in London,but now I have moved to the Thames Valley I don't get these,and my mobility decreases by the month - and the NHS couldn't care less. I weep when I go past the NOC pool in Oxford, and see no-one using it.   

lynnm19230

Hi veriterc and Chloe_Scope, Thank you for your replies to my post. I actually am still in Australia, but will be in the UK about June or July. My husband is already there. We will live in Billesdon, near Leicester. I have done a LOT of research about finding a pool to do my exercises in, and it is looking like I will need to see if a gym offers any facilities I might use. The hospital pool in Peterborough is apparently open to the public, and that may be a possibility, but it is a 45-minute drive away!! Also, they seem to restrict you to one hour, and I need almost 2 hours to do my exercises. Of course I could change that, but to drive so far for such a short time is silly. Luckily I am not in the situation where I absolutely MUST do hydrotherapy or my body will seize up, as some people are, but I am so sad that its value is not seen in the UK.

Right now, I walk 15 minutes to MSAC (Melbourne Sports and Aquatic Centre), which has TWO hydrotherapy pools, a small, quiet one upstairs and a larger one downstairs next to other large pools. I pay $4.85 (that's Australian dollars!!!) per session, and a session is however long I want it to be. I have a card that I tap to enter the pool, and that deducts one visit each time. It is so simple, flexible and reasonably-priced.

I may have to lead a campaign to open up the existing hydrotherapy pools across the UK!

veriterc

That's the spirit! We need some Aussie get-up-and-go here!  We are too much inclined to believe the NHS,who deludes itself (and us) with a slogan "envy of the world".  When you ask which countries envy us, there is silence!  But the UK puhlic believe it!  Before you arrive, can I suggest you get a strong letter from a top consultant saying you MUST have hydrotherapy, etc.  This could then back you up when you register with doctors here.  You could also Google your local Clinical Commissioning Group, then send a copy to them and ask where you go to get suitable hydrotherapy in UK. 
It's going to be a big fight, as the 'new' initiatives promised by the present Government need to be paid for - and guess how  this will be done? !!!  Good luck, and you could email me at verite@greenbee.net and let me know how you get on.
 

lynnm19230

Yes @veriterc I agree. One of the things I am not too happy about in moving to the UK is the NHS. That, and the lack of hydrotherapy pools. My problem is that I do NOT need it so cannot get a referral. Ironically, I do not need it because it was a major, long-term part of my recovery, which is why I recovered 100% from my accident. It sounds like I would not have received that had I been on the UK. My fight would be the financial benefits of opening up all the hydro pools to the paying public, with a mass advertising campaign showing people what a wonderful form of exercise, especially for people with things like hernias, brittle bones and the like. I can’t think of a nicer way to spend a cold, rainy morning than in a local hydrotherapy pool!

veriterc

We don't pay as much of our income as other countries, so many people will top up and expect to pay for private care.  If you can afford it, you might think of installing an aqua-treadmill as they don't take up much room, but actually give a good workout. The one I write about used to cost £50,000 - but it may have come down in cost  https://aftercancers.com/hydrotherapy-causes-a-splash/

westonadam

I work in Bristol not far from the hospital that treats me (southmead) I have psoriatic arthritis, I started Hydrotherapy at the beginning of Dec  2019 , I was very pleased to be offered this as about six months ago i was asked to leave our local swimming pool with my son as my psoriasis was looking quite bad and someone complained, I have never felt so low, my son couldn't understand,  anyway I am being treated with many pills but also biological injections , the first two didn't work but about seven weeks ago I was put on Secukinumab (Cosentyx) it cleared my Psoriasis up within five weeks , but they do not know if it will help with the arthritis for about another three months , I have frequent flare ups, and found that weekly Hydrotherapy was too much and would usually cause a flare up  which was a shame so I am working with the people at the hospital and have an open appointment so if I am having a bad day I ring them and go the following week, when I am not in flare up it really relaxes me and helps with my hips, there are not enough of these pools around for humans which is a real shame  

veriterc

OMG -Bristol sounds fantastic!  But it is such a pity that the NHS has pockets of post-code-lotteryitis. The thought of being treated as a grown-up and offered 'open appointments' without 'go and see your GP' is unbelievable.

westonadam

It is run by the physio dept, it has taken me  over a year to get to this point , my GP referred me to rheumatology Dec2018 got an appointment to see consultant Sept 2019 my appointments for hydro are on a Monday after the first one no more letters if your not well you call up and cancel and they book you in for the next week ,  it works really well, I do hope you find somewhere soon, I see occupational health through work next week to see if I can carry on working 

saggybagpuss6019

i would love to have regular hydrotherpy but although the sessions are only £9 its a £14 taxi ride each way 
iv tried it before at a sports centre and it does help ,but  u can no longer just have a hydrotherpy pool membership because people abused it and were using the gym as well so now u have to have a full membership which i c ant afford 

veriterc

1.  Would your GP be able to write to the sports centre and ask if you could have discount?
2.  Is there a voluntary car service in your area who could drive you to pool?  These are usually much cheaper than taxis, and your surgery should have details (but sometimes they 'forget' - so ask again).
Good luck