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Access to Hydrotherapy pools

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  • saggybagpuss6019
    saggybagpuss6019 Community member Posts: 10 Listener
    GP wont do anything like that says its not part of her remit ,  you still have to pay for voluntary drivers last time i used it  it was only a few pounds less than a taxi 
  • veriterc
    veriterc Community member Posts: 241 Pioneering
    This is appalling - your GP should help you, but I know that now-a-days they don't have time.  However, MPs are aware that the NHS is a vote winner, so you could as yours to write a supporting letter - good luck.   
  • yuzusake
    yuzusake Community member Posts: 3 Listener
    I know I'm late to the party with this thread but thought I might add something useful but also have a few questions if anyone knows the answer. 

    A bit of background is I have multiple disabilities and have found hydrotherapy very useful for my fatigue, joint pain and maintaining fitness in a more gentle way. I am also a musculoskeletal physiotherapist. I was lucky enough to do hydro as student physio and then again as a new graduate. I saw the massive benefits it can have to people's lives and also myself. I probably referred more patients to hydro in my dept that anyone else. The pool in our department definitely sat empty at times and I asked why it wasn't rented out during these times and it's just seems like a mixture of not being bothered and never ending NHS box ticking and red tape which made it difficult for them to do this. 

    I am also undertaking further specialist training in human hydrotherapy and funnily enough in canine hydrotherapy separately. As someone else has alluded to, the canine hydrotherapy world is much easier to access and is currently in a bit of a boom it seems. I suspect canine hydrotherapy research may start influencing human hydro as human services get cut and reduced and the veterinary services increase.

    A few people mentioned a list that was being made of all the NHS trusts and other places that had a hydrotherapy pool and wondered whether anyone had a link to this please? I really want to improve access to hydrotherapy for disabled people like myself , although I am at the start of this journey I feel like this would be the first step. 
  • chiarieds
    chiarieds Community member Posts: 16,007 Disability Gamechanger
    Hi @yuzusake - & welcome to the community. I'm a long retired physio, but also found the benefit of hydrotherapy, & volunteered to do as much as possible when I was on placement in a special school that had its own pool when a student myself.
    I didn't know what I had then (it turned out to be the hypermobile type of Ehlers- Danlos Syndrome), but definitely agree with you as to the benefit of hydrotherapy for myself too!
    Hoping your further training in hydrotherapy goes well, & good to 'meet' you.
  • yuzusake
    yuzusake Community member Posts: 3 Listener
    Yes I have hypermobile EDS amongst other things although it was just diagnosed as JHS , but fulfill the criteria for EDS especially after all the changes in 2017, I don't see the point in getting it diagnosed as EDS at this point in my life as I don't think it will change anything for me personally. Honestly, it's crazy how the canine hydro world is growing so fast and then there so many people here who can't access pools, it's quite sad.
  • chiarieds
    chiarieds Community member Posts: 16,007 Disability Gamechanger
    My son & I were diagnosed in 2000 by a Professor who specialised in connective tissue disorders & dermatology. Since retired, he was considered the best person in the UK to go to as advised by the founder of the EDS support group.
    Our family is also affected by Chiari 1 Malformation, tho some of our UK specialists have unfortunately very little understanding about its association in some of us with EDS.  My youngest daughter's Gt Ormond St ENT said it's most likely EDS + Chiari 1 Malformation agreeing with a New York neurosurgeon I've been in contact with.
    Interestingly I think there's more known about Chiari 1 Malformation & Cavalier King Charles spaniels than the same disorder in humans in the UK!
    I have read about canine hydrotherapy too, &, as you say, it's sad that disabled people don't have the same access.
  • yuzusake
    yuzusake Community member Posts: 3 Listener
    One of my special interests is with hypermobility and associated/overlapping/ related conditions and definitely found a lack of knowledge within professional circles, which is shame. Yes I've read about that too with cavalier king Charles! Maybe there's more research for dogs because British people love their dogs more than they love eachother....  :D  I jest. 

    I guess when it's come to restricting , cutting or stopping services it comes down to money at the end of the day and the research generally (I'm definitely generalising here) says that it's no better than land physio for some things, but I would argue that my hydro patients were way more compliant and more likely to want to do hydro vs land physio... Probably due to its pain relieving benefits which I can attest to. So fair enough they're both similar but if people can't do land physio because it's too painful or their mobility is too poor or due to paralysis, they have little choice and what's the point in people trying to say land physio and hydro are the same. They obviously aren't. I tell you I'd much rather do hydro than do land exercise any day of the week.
  • chiarieds
    chiarieds Community member Posts: 16,007 Disability Gamechanger
    edited March 2022
    Great you're so interested in hypermobility, & your personal knowledge will also undoubtedly help others. Everything often comes down to money, but also lack of research/knowledge too as you say. There certainly is a place with physio that hydrotherapy can be more beneficial. I also worked in the regional centre for spinal injuries after qualifying, & wished we'd had an accessible hydrotherapy pool.
    As you have an interest in disorders associated with hypermobility, if you haven't looked before, you may be interested in the videos of past conferences the American Syringomyelia & Chiari  Alliance Project provide...... EDS is very much discussed & Mast cell activation disorder too, which can also be associated with EDS (Dr Anne Maitland being the best specialist on this IMHO). Dr Allison Ashley-Koch is great on the genetics they're hoping to find re: Chiari 1 Malformation, & tho I asked her if this may help in finding the elusive gene(s) relating to associated connective tissue disorders such as EDS she was as yet unsure. Dr Bolognese is the NY neurosurgeon I've been in contact with, & who has helped me in trying to raise awareness about Chiari 1 Malformation & its association with EDS here in the UK. Here's a link: https://asap.org/conferences/virtual-conference/2020-conference-videos/

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