Aquatic Pool Therapy

Aquatic therapy is done in a special swimming pool. A therapy pool can help kids improve their abilities and practice skills. The buoyancy of water reduces stress on the joints and helps to support body weight, making movement easier.

Water also offers resistance, enabling children to strengthen their muscles without using weights. In addition, water can decrease swelling, help muscles relax and improve blood flow.

Water therapy can help kids and teens who have a wide variety of disabilities and complex injuries. Whether your child has a lifelong condition, such as cerebral palsy, or experiences a traumatic injury, pool therapy might help.

Aquatic therapy exercises can be part of an integrated care plan that helps your child. Your team of experts at Gillette Children’s will help you determine the right therapies for your child’s needs.

Water physical therapy is just one of the rehabilitation therapies available at Gillette—in St. Paul, and Burnsville.

The therapeutic pools are specially designed for kids who have disabilities and complex conditions. Each of our pools features different levels of technology to meet the varying needs of patients who might benefit from pool therapy.

At the St. Paul therapy pool:

• The pool floor lowers into the water, so children don’t need to use a ramp or lift to get in, and therapists can set an ideal depth.
• The floor can function as a treadmill, when needed.
• Underwater cameras can help therapists observe and evaluate kids’ movements.
• Adjustable jets can change the level of resistance the surrounding water creates as children work on therapy exercises.

At the Burnsville therapy pool:

• The floor can function as a treadmill if the child is at least 52 inches tall, when needed.
• Underwater cameras can help therapists observe and evaluate kids’ movements.
• A lift is available for entry and exit.

See Gillette aquatic therapy pools in action as therapists work with children to exercise.