The Arizona heat shows no signs of releasing its grip any time soon. If you’re like me, you’ve likely visited the pool in order to maintain sanity through these hot months. What you may not know is that you can take advantage of your time in the pool to do a little physical therapy. It’s simple, it’s fun, and best of all it isn’t sweaty.
Doing pool exercises comes with some solid benefits. Exercises in the water can help increase your blood flow and circulation. It also reduces the amount of your weight that your body has to hold up. This makes it easier on your joints, muscles, and tendons that you may be trying to rehab. Getting some exercise in the pool can also improve your mood. For one, you’ll be less hot, and that makes everyone happier. And for two, it’s well established scientifically that getting exercise improves your mood. Exercises in the pool can’t replace the therapy that you do on land, but they can be a great help in your healing process.
(Actual reenactment of a real human using weights in the pool)
Weights are a great thing to use in the pool because they are low impact and can help you work into more strenuous workouts.
Another great exercise in the water is noodle biking. For this one you’ll need your favorite pool noodle. You’ll hop on the noodle as if it were a bicycle, sitting in the middle of the noodle. While floating, kick your legs as if you were pushing imaginary bike pedals. You can make this exercise as slow or as fast as you want.
Walking is a really great exercise to do in the pool for a number of different body parts. A pro tip is to bring something with you into the pool that you probably have never brought with you before: a cookie sheet. That’s right, one of those metal pans you use to bake cookies. Hop into the water and hold the sheet with both hands in front of you. As you walk forward, the pan will create more resistance and make it somewhat harder for you to walk. This can help strengthen your muscles. You can also use this technique while standing still to work your arms as you move the pan away from you and back toward you.
If you’re jumping in the pool to escape the heat, why not take a little time to work out? It can be a big help for patients looking for low impact exercise. And when you’re done with that cookie sheet you can whip up a batch of chocolate chip cookies and call it a day. What more could anyone want?
Written by Tom Farnsworth PT
