“Hydrotherapy” is a term encompassing a range of therapeutic and exercise activities carried out in heated pools by a variety of providers. Experts rate hydrotherapy as one of the least toxic of 33 potential treatments for knee OA. Aquatic physical therapy incorporates individual assessment, evidence-based practice, and clinical reasoning skills to devise treatment plans based on the principles of hydrostatics and hydrodynamics and the physiologic effects of immersion. Aquatic physical therapy offers several benefits over land-based physical therapy for
people with OA. Buoyancy reduces loading across joints affected by pain
and allows the performance of functional closed-chain exercises that
otherwise may be too difficult on land. Water turbulence can be used as a method of increasing resistance, and percentage of body weight borne across the lower limbs can be decreased or progressed in proportion to the depth of immersion The warmth and pressure of the
water may further assist with pain relief, swelling reduction, and ease
of movement