Today I took my first visit to the local hydrotherapy pool. My doctor referred me back in April, but I haven't had a weekend where i've felt I had the energy to go or wasn't doing something else until now.
I arrived there for 9am and was glad that i did as it was empty at that point. After speaking to the lady who was running the place, I went to change and then went in. The water was like a warm bath - very nice, although apparently not as warm as normal as they had had problems with the boiler this morning. I started with a few lengths of back stroke, then some widths of front crawl and then some walking in the water, finishing off with some leg kicking whilst the rest of me was supported by a toggle float. The pool was getting pretty busy by the time I got out.
I wore my heart monitor the whole time to try and keep my HR below my anaerobic threshold and help to reduce strain on my body and minimise symptoms. I was pleasantly surprised by my heart rate. It peaked at 131 when I first got in, but then averaged 110 for the whole time I was exercising. I would swim a length then look at the monitor and if it was going up I would wait a short time for it to come down again and then swim again. I generally didn't have to wait long.
Anyway, I didn't hang around and was probably in and out of the pool within 15 to 20 minutes. My thigh muscles were trembling a little and felt very weak, I was a bit concerned I might have overdone it, but knew I had a pretty quiet day ahead so wasn't too bothered.
It's the evening now and as yet no adverse reactions. My thigh muscles have been tired and achey all day, but I think it might just be that they've done a different sort of exercise, that their not used to. The best thing is that I haven't felt ill all day. I know that I could still have a reaction tomorrow or even Tuesday, but I am feeling pretty positive about the whole thing. This could be a good way of exercising my muscles and keeping my heart rate down which will eventually hopefully mean I can increase the time exercising as my muscles get stronger.
I arrived there for 9am and was glad that i did as it was empty at that point. After speaking to the lady who was running the place, I went to change and then went in. The water was like a warm bath - very nice, although apparently not as warm as normal as they had had problems with the boiler this morning. I started with a few lengths of back stroke, then some widths of front crawl and then some walking in the water, finishing off with some leg kicking whilst the rest of me was supported by a toggle float. The pool was getting pretty busy by the time I got out.
I wore my heart monitor the whole time to try and keep my HR below my anaerobic threshold and help to reduce strain on my body and minimise symptoms. I was pleasantly surprised by my heart rate. It peaked at 131 when I first got in, but then averaged 110 for the whole time I was exercising. I would swim a length then look at the monitor and if it was going up I would wait a short time for it to come down again and then swim again. I generally didn't have to wait long.
Anyway, I didn't hang around and was probably in and out of the pool within 15 to 20 minutes. My thigh muscles were trembling a little and felt very weak, I was a bit concerned I might have overdone it, but knew I had a pretty quiet day ahead so wasn't too bothered.
It's the evening now and as yet no adverse reactions. My thigh muscles have been tired and achey all day, but I think it might just be that they've done a different sort of exercise, that their not used to. The best thing is that I haven't felt ill all day. I know that I could still have a reaction tomorrow or even Tuesday, but I am feeling pretty positive about the whole thing. This could be a good way of exercising my muscles and keeping my heart rate down which will eventually hopefully mean I can increase the time exercising as my muscles get stronger.
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