Live Streaming Webcast, "Balance Training For Seniors: Using Aquatics for Improving and Maintaining ADLs" to be Presented on June 4
Middletown, PA (PRWEB) June 02, 2014 -- Part of the natural aging process of the human body includes a gradual weakening of muscles and eventual gait impairment. Typically, this leads to balance issues, sometimes resulting in injury-producing falls that take away a senior’s independence. One in three people age 65 and older will sustain a fall, which will separate them from activities they love—like shopping, cooking, gardening, and exercise.
Balance training in an aquatic environment is a proactive approach to fall reduction and seniors’ subsequent loss of activities of daily living (ADLs). Because the aquatic environment provides stability to a senior fearful of exercising on land, balance training is most effectively done in water, on an underwater treadmill with resistance jets, utilizing water’s natural properties of viscosity, buoyancy and hydrostatic pressure.
On June 4, 2014, from 4pm – 5pm EDT, Rachel McDermott, PTA and Director of Rehabilitation and Afton Osterberger, PT at Stonehill Care Center will present a webcast entitled “Balance Training for Seniors: Using Aquatics for Improving and Maintaining ADLs.” The webcast will provide treatment ideas for seniors who suffer from balance deficits and subsequent difficulties with their ADLs. The content of the webcast will include a case study of a 76 year old female with bilateral foot reconstruction. The demonstration will take place in a HydroWorx 2000 Series pool, utilizing the underwater treadmill, aquatic jets, and in varying depths of water.
“Exercising in warm water is a safe yet challenging environment,” stated Rachel McDermott. “There is no fear of falling due to hydrostatic pressure and buoyancy. Warm water provides the support seniors need and also stimulates body awareness, balance, and trunk stability.”
Webcast attendees will learn:
• How to identify progression timing
• How aquatic therapy transfer to land progression
• How advanced aquatic therapy played a key part in this patient’s progress
The one hour webcast will be broadcast live from the HydroWorx 2000 Series pool at Stonehill Care Center in Dubuque, Iowa. Live attendees will have the opportunity to try out the HydroWorx 2000 Series pool. You can register for the online webcast at: http://ww2.hydroworx.com/webcast-adl-balance.
“This therapy pool is the hottest thing around,” continued McDermott. “Four people use it every half hour. Because of joint problems and balance issues, many of our patients can’t utilize the other equipment in the wellness center. But they can get in the HydroWorx and really get a good work out, increase muscle strength and balance.”
Presenters:
Rachel McDermott, PTA, graduated from Kirkwood Community College in 1996 with her certification as a Physical Therapy Assistant. She has been a director at multiple clinics and is currently the Director of Rehabilitation at Stonehill Care Center, a skilled long term care and outpatient center. She has held this position for five years. Rachel specializes in skilled nursing and aquatic therapy.
Afton Osterberger, PT, graduated from Des Moines University with her Doctorate of Physical Therapy in 2011. She has experience in pediatric and geriatric rehabilitation and is certified in Aquatic Therapy through the Aquatic Therapy and Rehab Institute. Afton currently utilizes the HydroWorx pool for patients with a variety of diagnoses including total knee replacements, generalized weakness, hip replacement, patients under weight bearing restrictions and patients who present with balance deficits.
About HydroWorx
Since the late 1990s, HydroWorx—based in Middletown, PA—has manufactured aquatic therapy pools with built-in underwater treadmills to enable physical therapists to more effectively offer their patients the opportunity to increase range of motion, decrease risk of falls and joint stress, and remain motivated through the rehab process. Every day, more than 23,000 athletes and patients use HydroWorx technology to recover from injuries and health conditions. For more information, please visit http://www.hydroworx.com.
Nicole Biesecker, HydroWorx, http://www.hydroworx.com, +1 (800) 753-9633, [email protected]
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