What if your pool patient came into the clinic with a bandage on his elbow reporting he fell yesterday? Would you cover the wound and let him in the pool or see him on land instead? What if the woman you evaluated has a history of seizures and incontinence? Would you select aquatic therapy for her treatment plan?

Decisions, decision, decisions. Every day you make decisions about your patients including whether or not to select aquatic physical therapy as their treatment intervention The benefits and risks of aquatic physical therapy for every individual patient must be considered when making these decisions. This presentation will give you information to help make this clinical judgement. Various potential precautions or contraindications will be discussed along with ways to mitigate the risk of immersion with each precaution. The group will discuss various case scenarios and talk though the decision making process of whether or no you choose To Pool or Not to Pool.

The participants will:

• Recognize potential risks with immersion and aquatic exercise for a variety of conditions including but not limited to…
  • Non-intact skin or bleeding
  • Intravenous lines, central venous lines
  • Stomas – colostomy, ileostomy
  • Tube – G-tube, NG tube, PEG
  • Communicable diseases (Hep B, Hep C, HIV, MRSA, C-diff)
  • Incontinence, catheters, diarrhea, urinary tract infections
  • Cardiac disease (MI, Hyper or Hypotension, myocarditis, CHF)
  • Pulmonary disease (COPC, Asthma, cystic fibrosis)
  • Tracheostomy
  • DVT
  • Seizures
  • Immunocompromised
  • Weather considerations
• Recognize ways to mitigate the risk of immersion for patients with precautions.
• Be able to use clinical judgement to compare risk of precaution/s to the reward of aquatic physical therapy for each individual patient and assess if aquatic physical therapy is an appropriate treatment intervention.
• Utilize handouts from the webinar as a tool for clinical decision making in future.