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Warm water exercise good for relieving symptoms


Interested in arthritis self-management?
Call the Self Management Information Line, Physiotherapy Department, Baycrest 416-785-2500, ext. 2683. Please note that there is a monthly fee for the program.

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water exercises

On a hot, humid day in July, as Bruno Amato exercises in the heated pool at Baycrest, his aching body gradually begins to relax.

Amato and his wife Assunta, who both have arthritis, take part three times a week in the community hydrotherapy program run by the Physiotherapy Department. “The heated water calms the inflammation,” Amato explains. “The water, which is a beautiful 93 degrees, is not a cure, but at least it helps you manage the pain for a few hours. On high humidity days like this one you feel the pain very much, all over your body.”

Warm water exercise is an outgrowth of PACEEx (Program for Arthritis Control Through Education and Exercise). Working as a group, facilitated by a physiotherapist and an occupational therapist, participants learn to take control of their arthritis symptoms through education, discussion, goal setting and problem solving. Program graduates move on to exercising in the pool, where they follow an exercise video while under the supervision of a life guard.

Results from focus groups show that warm water exercise helps PACEEx graduates maintain the healthy behaviours that they acquired during the nine-week self-management program.

“No other exercise program can do what the pool program does,” says Miriam Swardron, an eight-year hydrotherapy veteran, who has lupus and fibromyalgia, two of the 100 different types of arthritis. “I remember very clearly the shape I was in when I first came to the pool. I started out in the deep end the first day and I couldn’t do any of the exercises because the pain was simply too intense. Eventually I was able to move to one of the shallower levels. If I hadn’t been coming to the pool for eight years and coming on a regular basis, I might very well be in a wheelchair now. I can do a lot of things in the pool I simply cannot do outside of the pool in terms of exercise…you just have to be patient and eventually you will start to see very dramatic results.”

Maria Arduini credits five years of regular exercise in warm water with keeping her osteoarthritis symptoms in check. Painful knees were making it difficult for her to walk up and down the stairs at the school where she taught. “In the water we do range-of-motion and strengthening exercises, the kinds of exercises that are more gentle for the joints. The program has helped my situation tremendously. It has given me relief from pain and halted the progression of the disease. I would highly recommend it.”

Evidence is growing that providing patients with the education, motivation and the environment they need to make behavior changes leads to improvement in health status and increased patient satisfaction.

“Self-management is about learning and practicing the skills necessary to carry on an active and emotionally satisfying life in the face of a chronic illness,” explains Angela Chan, director of Physiotherapy at Baycrest. “You are in the driver’s seat—you learn what to do, and then you apply those skills throughout the rest of your life.”