Hydrotherapy for Winter Fitness 

Winter can be a difficult time of year for those who suffer from arthritis, have limited mobility, or are at risk of falling to stay active. Hydrotherapy has emerged as a solution to support this patient population. In this blog we’ll review how hydrotherapy is helping patients of every ability level to stay active during the cold winter months.

Winter Weather Exercise Regimen

In cold geographies hydrotherapy offers a warm and comfortable and safe place to exercise. Many clinics have started to offer general fitness and wellness programs to enable patients to stay active year-round. Some clinics structure these as hydrotherapy memberships, like gym memberships, to give patients access to schedule time in the underwater treadmill.

Compact freestanding units like the HydroWorx RISE provide an easy-to-install solution for rehabilitation, recovery, conditioning, and general fitness. Therapists can adjust the water depth and treadmill speed to ensure exercise sessions are customized to meet the fitness goals of every patient.

For patients suffering from arthritis, warm hydrotherapy sessions can provide major benefits. The warm water soothes joints, reduces exercise impact, and allows patients to continue to exercise during the winter months when joints can feel especially painful.

A Versatile Fitness Option

Hydrotherapy offers a versatile fitness option for a wide variety of patients:

• Older patients
  Hydrotherapy offers a safe environment to exercise. Buoyancy can be adjusted to create low impact exercises without the fall risks that outdoor exercise presents in the winter months.
  
  See how FYZICAL Therapy & Balance Centers Lincoln, is leveraging hydrotherapy to improve mobility and fitness for their mobility-restricted patients.
  
• Strength and Conditioning
  Winter can be a challenging time for athletes to stay in shape for the sports season. Ice presents a slip and fall risk even to those in top physical condition. Hydrotherapy gives trainers the ability to create more challenging workouts than can often be safely performed outside during the winter months by increasing treadmill speed, jet resistance, and by adjusting water depth.
  

Profit and Progress

Offering a hydrotherapy-based fitness membership can add a new revenue stream to your practice. By offering a membership program you can generate revenue from your underwater treadmill while it’s not in use for therapy. Provide time slots and allow patients to sign up for the session that works best for them.

For example, if you charge $100/ month and provide access to the treadmill for one, 30-minute session per week and your schedule can accommodate 5 patients per day you can take approximately 25 total monthly memberships. These memberships would earn $2,500 in additional revenue per month.

Ready to add an underwater treadmill to your practice? Contact us today.