As human beings, our bodies crave water, as we are over 70% comprised of that precious substance. Most of us, at one point or another, will suffer from the life-altering discomfort of back pain. Combining the two, what do our natural instincts tell us about using aqua therapy as a beneficial form of recovery? And, especially when our back pain prohibits us from enjoying our regular methods of exercise, including running?

Aqua therapy, also called “water therapy” or “pool therapy”, has been found to provide a number of back pain-relieving benefits when land-based exercises simply aren’t an option.  Now let’s take a look at 4 of the key benefits of using aqua therapy when suffering from back pain.

Strengthens Core Muscles

Exercising in water seemingly reduces your body’s weight, due to the buoyancy effects of the liquid itself. This relieves pressure from the area afflicted by back pain and allows you to perform exercises that strengthen core muscle groups in your trunk and back regions. The supporting of one’s body weight through aqua therapy also lets you work on improving your range-of-motion through body positioning that land-based exercises would be too painful to do.

For example, our legs are the heaviest parts of our bodies, and attempting to lift them up and down, such as when running, is much more easily accomplished when water therapy is employed. In a nutshell, water reduces our body’s gravity. Strengthening and conditioning your core muscles using aqua therapy will definitely help relieve back pain, while also improving your posture, a step that will later help alleviate the onset and severity of future back issues.

Lowers Re-Injury Risks

Water affords us with a very gentle substrate in which to stretch and exercise using aqua therapy programs. It provides minor friction against our bodies, but this viscosity effect actually helps reduce the risk of back pain sufferers from further damaging the injured region. WebMD chimes in by saying that the viscosity and buoyancy characteristics of aqua therapy help ‘increase flexibility and range-of-motion, all without putting stress on your joints or spine.

Back pain, which can be acute or chronic in nature, may be attributable to a number of underlying conditions, including many related to poor posture or improper running form. But more on those causative factors in a moment…

Improves Cardiovascular Function

Have you ever been around someone who swims a lot for exercise, especially if they use it as a cross-training method to help their running? As a result, they have very good cardio endurance. Just the hydrostatic forces that aqua therapy provides, due to its natural pressure upon one’s body, can improve your cardiovascular efficiency.

In fact, spending time exercising in water, such as aqua therapy, greatly enhances a person’s heart and lung performance, along with promoting better blood circulation. These are all positives for those of us who enjoy running in one form or another, and who might currently be on the sidelines due to back pain issues.

Pain Relief

Obviously, if you are suffering from back pain, it will have a lifestyle-altering impact on your normal activities, including your exercise program. Aqua therapy has been found to provide a number of positive outcomes in diminishing back pain, including those mentioned earlier. Water itself is relaxing and soothing to be in, and it usually creates a quiet atmosphere.

In addition, the typical warmth of pool therapy, for example, further relaxes all parts of one’s body, including your mind. In other words, aqua therapy is a great stress-reducer too, and when we are uptight, it oftentimes correlates with the onset and severity of back pain.

Lumo Lift Posture Coach and Aqua Therapy make a Good Team

Water therapy, as we have seen, is a great way to recover from back pain, while providing the user with numerous beneficial effects. When using aqua therapy to get over back pain, as you strengthen your body’s core muscle groups, it’s important to also practice good posture. This will go a long way, once a back pain flare-up has subsided, towards preventing another uncomfortable onset in the future.

At Lumo, we’ve developed a “smart” sensor called the Lumo Lift, which continuously monitors and records data, for later viewing, based upon your body’s posture.

When back pain strikes, remember aqua therapy as one viable treatment option.  On the other side of the coin, help prevent the onset, and reduce the severity, of back pain with our Lumo Lift Posture Coach!