Water: the road to recovery for chronic heart failure patients

After people have chronic heart failure (CHF) they are usually advised to start or resume an exercise program. That helps, but so does water. Not the drinking water, but warm water.

Researcher Julie Adsett at the Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital conducted a study in 2013 on CHF patients and quality of life. Specialized exercise programs are often conducted in hospital gymnasiums for people as a means of convalescing. It was noted that exercise was difficult for people with muscle and joint pain, or balance problems. For these people, they were less inclined to exercise.

But when people exercised in warm water – in the hospital swimming hydrotherapy pool or other indoor pool – they received the same benefits as people doing land-based exercises. Water-based exercises can improve fitness, strength and balance in a group of patients with stable CHF. Warm water can help to regulate blood pressure, blood flow, and body temperature. For some, water-based exercises suited them more than gym work or walking, and they were less reticent about continuing a regular exercise routine.

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MARTINA NICOLLS is an international aid and development consultant, and the author of:- Similar But Different in the Animal Kingdom (2017), The Shortness of Life: A Mongolian Lament (2015), Liberia’s Deadest Ends (2012), Bardot’s Comet (2011), Kashmir on a Knife-Edge (2010) and The Sudan Curse (2009).

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