Lynn Johnston, a therapist at
LPT Fitness and Physical Therapy in Pennsylvania,
sees the Endless Pool as a natural step in the progression
of aquatic therapy.
Lynn notes that orthopedists are more apt
than ever to prescribe aquatic therapy. "They
[orthopedists] don't need to be convinced of benefits
like buoyancy and decreased load on joints."
Having the Endless Pool available is an extra
advantage for her therapy practice, Lynn
suggests, because the adjustable current allows for
an orderly and easily monitored progression of exercises.
For example, she cites the case
of a patient recovering from rotator-cuff surgery.
Heating pads, ultrasound and manual stretching had
proven ineffective. However, when the patient tried
hanging from the pool's exercise bar against an increasingly
strong current, the result was a greater range of
motion and freedom from pain.
When a back-surgery patient first
visited the clinic, he was so sore that all he could
do was sit on the Endless Pool's bench working his
limbs against a gentle flow. Eventually, he was able
to kick against the current and can now walk on dry
land again, two to three miles, up dramatically from
the two-block limitation following surgery.
"The point is to progress from
the water-based exercises to full load-bearing exercises
on land," Lynn says. "Without the Endless
Pool's adjustable current, you just can't progress
as far."
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