Services → Aquatic Therapy
PHYSICAL THERAPY IN WILMINGTON, DE
Aquatic Therapy
Therapeutic exercise in our heated pool — designed for patients who need a lower-impact approach to rehabilitation. Ideal for arthritis, post-surgical recovery, chronic pain, and balance training.
What Is Aquatic Therapy?
Aquatic therapy — also called pool therapy or hydrotherapy — uses the properties of water to make exercise easier, safer, and more effective for patients recovering from injury, surgery, or chronic conditions.
Water provides natural benefits that land-based exercise can’t replicate:
- Buoyancy — reduces body weight by up to 90%, taking pressure off joints, bones, and the spine
- Hydrostatic pressure — gentle compression that reduces swelling and supports circulation
- Warmth — our heated therapeutic pool relaxes muscles, eases stiffness, and reduces pain
- Resistance — water provides natural resistance in all directions for gentle strengthening
Aquatic therapy is not swimming laps. It’s structured, therapist-directed exercise performed in waist- to chest-deep water, guided by your physical therapist based on your specific treatment plan.
Who Benefits from Aquatic Therapy?
Aquatic therapy is especially effective for patients who find land-based exercise too painful or difficult. Common candidates include:
- Arthritis patients — reduced joint loading allows movement with less pain
- Post-surgical patients — early-phase rehab for knee, hip, and spine procedures
- Chronic low back pain — decompression and gentle core activation in a supported environment
- Balance and fall prevention — the water provides a safe environment to practice balance challenges
- Fibromyalgia and chronic pain — warm water and gentle movement for pain management
- Patients who are deconditioned — a gentler starting point for building strength and endurance
- Overweight or obese patients — reduced weight-bearing allows more comfortable exercise
Your therapist may start you in the pool and transition to land-based exercise as your strength and tolerance improve — or use a combination of both throughout your plan of care.
Our Aquatic Therapy Facility
The Back Clinic features an on-site heated therapeutic pool — one of the few outpatient physical therapy clinics in the Wilmington area with this capability. Our pool is maintained at a therapeutic temperature and is designed specifically for rehabilitation, not recreation.
Sessions are one-on-one with your physical therapist, just like our land-based treatment. You don’t need to know how to swim — the water depth is manageable and your therapist is with you the entire time.
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No referral needed*. Most insurance accepted including Medicare.
Or call: 302-995-2100