Tag: aqua

This was Lidia’s idea. She wanted to go to the pool and do some exercising. So, we did.

One year after Lidia had her stroke, she wanted to do more with her walking and physical therapy. It was her idea to try going to the pool.

Here are some things that we’ve learned.

Anxiety and Panic

Anxiety about going to the pool for the first time after a stroke is real. Be careful. Lidia panicked the first time going into the pool. She froze on the last step where she would have had to let go of the railing. I picked her up and slowly brought her all the way into the pool where she cried. One of the lifeguards saw and gave us a pool noodle so that Lidia would feel a little bit more secure.

Water Temperature and Water Jackets

The temperature of the water is cold. I’m sure it’s fine for those people doing laps, but for us that are just walking and balancing it’s a little on the chilly side. Cold water means tight muscles. It was so uncomfortable for us that we bought some water jackets to keep us warmer while in the pool.

Weights

Water makes things a little more buoyant and a water jacket does even more. When I’m wearing my water jacket, I can just sit there and float. Because of the buoyancy, Lidia started using the weight belt that I used for Scuba Diving. She wears 15 pounds of lead around her waist so that her leg can get a workout while walking in the water.

AFO

Lidia requires an AFO brace to walk at the moment. This is no different in the pool. We used one of the many braces that we’ve tried over the past year that would work in water without getting ruined. With our AFO, it was required to wear it with a shoe. At first, we used a bootie that is used for scuba diving but learned that it wasn’t tight enough to work properly with the AFO so we had to get an aquatic shoe that is used for water sports like kayaking. Lidia didn’t have weight on her affected leg until she started to do her knee lifts without any effort. So, now, we wear 3 pounds on her ankle.