Exercising in the gym or swimming are helpful exercises that you can add to your regular workouts.
They offer benefits of exercise such as removing ease of chronic pain, improving your sleep, your fitness, building strength, boosting your mood, and reducing risk for heart disease, diabetes, and cancer.
Before one starts engaging in water-based exercises, it is important to get expert assessment, Ndagire says. Different individuals require different types of water-based exercises, depending on their medical condition and the level of pain or damage.
“If you engage in any exercise before an assessment by a professional, you might cause more damage to your joints or discs, depending on the cause of your pain,” she remarks.
Strength training
When you do strength training exercises on land, you are working against gravity. This is the opposite when it comes to water-based exercises.
“There is no gravity and the exercises are much easier. The viscosity and buoyancy of the water help you work out even more than you would on land. Exercising in water helps reduce joint pain, increases the range of motion, increases muscle endurance and flexibility,” Ndagire says.
Water-based exercises include a variety of activities, ranging from swimming to stand-up paddle boarding and water volleyball. You can also do water-based aerobics, pool walking or jogging.
For a long time, swimming has been the commonest water-based exercise and with this exercise alone, nearly every muscle in your body propels you through the water, burning calories and helping increase your strength.
Swimming does not only make your whole body wet but can also be a wonderful meditation workout. If you do not know how to swim, consider taking swimming lessons.
Walking
Water aerobics and pool walking or jogging are done when you are standing in the pool. These water exercises eliminate the risk of a fall, impact the whole body, lessens impact, is an ideal environment for resistance training and helps keep bones strong.
Who can benefit from these exercises?
According to the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), water-based exercise can help people with arthritis improve the use of their arthritic joints, without worsening symptoms.
People with rheumatoid arthritis have shown more health improvements after participating in hydrotherapy (exercising in warm water) than with other activities.
Water-based exercise can also improve the use of affected joints and decrease pain from osteoarthritis.
Swimming can improve mood in both men and women. For people with chronic muscle pain, swimming can decrease anxiety, and exercise therapy in warm water can decrease depression and improve mood.
During pregnancy
Water-based exercises can improve the health of pregnant women and has a positive effect on the pregnant mother’s mental health. Also, parents of children with developmental disabilities find that recreational activities, such as swimming, improve family connections.
Water-based exercise can also benefit older adults by improving their quality of life and decreasing disability. It can also improve or help maintain the bone health of post-menopausal women.
Types
Generally, it is better to exercise in water that is waist or chest high. If you have a specific medical condition, ask a physiotherapist to recommend the best water level for your condition.
The physiotherapist will also help you choose a water temperature that is best for your condition. Exercising in cooler water may allow you exercise more without getting tired, while exercising in warmer water may be good for reducing pain.
According to Harvard Medical School, water-based aerobics includes cardio, strength, and interval training done in the pool.
Also called aqua aerobics, aquarobics, aquafit, and many other names, water aerobics are done in a class setting in waist- to chest-deep water with music and a trained instructor. However, you can also do them on your own by following the routines in the Aqua Fitness report from Harvard Medical School.
“Cardio exercise gets your heart pumping for a sustained period. On land, it is distinguished from strength training, which uses some form of resistance to build muscle. But because water offers natural resistance, most exercises, even classic cardio moves such as jumping jacks provide both aerobic benefits and muscle strengthening,” experts say.
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