Does swimming help with osteochondrosis? Doctors recommend moderate physical activity during degenerative processes in the spine. Pool activities can benefit the patient. Indeed, during swimming, a person's blood circulation increases and the muscles of the back strengthen. This helps to restore normal spinal function and reduce morning stiffness of muscles. It is only necessary to dose physical activity and follow the rules of therapeutic swimming.
Benefit
Why swimming with osteochondrosis is useful? This type of physical activity contributes to the following health processes in the body:
- Relieve spasms. Muscles relax in a person’s water. This reduces the unpleasant sensation of stiffness in the neck and lower back, which usually disturbs patients in the morning.
- Strengthening the muscles of the back and neck. With regular swimming exercises, special muscles that support the spinal column are trained. Fabrics become stronger and more durable. As a result, pathological processes in the spine are suspended.
- Improve metabolism. Swimming with osteochondrosis helps to normalize the metabolism in the tissues. Active movements in the water stimulate blood circulation. This triggers repair processes in damaged cartilage.
- Stretching the spine. During swimming, the intervals between the vertebrae increase. This process in water occurs painlessly and gradually. The result is less pressure on the cartilage and nerve endings. This helps to reduce pain and normalize the work of internal organs.
- Get rid of excess weight. With a large body weight, the load on the spine increases. Active movements in the water help to lose weight.
In addition, swimming with cervical osteochondrosis improves blood supply to brain tissue. This allows you to get rid of a headache.
Classes in the pool can bring even greater benefits than conventional therapeutic exercises. After all, performing movements in water is much easier than on land.
Contraindications
Swimming with osteochondrosis is not always useful. Classes in the pool can be held only during remission. With severe pain and difficulty in movement, it is necessary to abandon physical activity. You can start water exercises only after stopping acute symptoms.
Swimming is also contraindicated in the following diseases:
- Skin diseases. With dermatological pathologies, swimming is absolutely contraindicated. Chlorinated water can cause allergies.
- Epilepsy If the patient suffers from convulsive attacks, then swimming alone is quite risky. In this case, classes in the pool can only be carried out under the supervision of another person who, if necessary, can remove the patient from the water and provide first aid.
- Severe pathologies of the heart, blood vessels and lungs. With such diseases, it is necessary to exclude physical activity.
- Colds. In this case, classes in the pool can be resumed only after complete recovery.
Choosing a place for swimming
Swimming with osteochondrosis is beneficial only if the person is not supercooling. Otherwise, an exacerbation of the pathology may occur. Therefore, doctors do not recommend conducting classes in natural reservoirs with cool water. This can trigger an increase in pain. In addition, in river water a person has to overcome the current, which creates excessive physical exertion.
Swimming in open water is allowed only at high water temperatures and hot weather. In this case, it is strictly forbidden to do dousing with cool water. This can nullify the whole healing effect of bathing. Cold drinks and drafts should also be avoided.
It is not recommended to visit the outdoor pools. The patient may become cold when leaving the water. Specialists recommend medical swimming only in indoor pools.
Therapeutic swimming rules
How to swim with osteochondrosis? Doctors advise to adhere to the following recommendations:
- Before starting classes, you need to do a little gymnastics. Such a warm-up will help prepare the muscles for the load. It is useful to have a light massage of the back and neck, this will increase the flow of blood to the spine.
- You can start classes only at a water temperature of about +30 degrees. This will avoid overcooling. In the future, the water temperature is gradually reduced to +23 degrees.
- Sharp movements should be avoided. During classes in the pool, water often gets into the ears and eyes. This forces a person to shake his head. To avoid such a nuisance, it is necessary to purchase special goggles and a swimming cap in advance. With osteochondrosis of the cervical spine, sudden head movements are especially undesirable, this can provoke an attack of pain.
- It is very important to monitor your breathing during exercise. It is necessary to inhale smoothly and deeply, and then sharply and quickly release air from the lungs. Such exercises have a positive effect on spinal mobility and reduce nerve compression.
- You need to swim for 50 to 60 minutes, at least 2 times a week.
- What to do if a person cannot swim? In this case, it is useful to purchase an inflatable pillow. You can use a swimming circle for children. Holding hands on this device, you can perform gymnastic exercises in the water. This option is suitable for people of advanced age with weakened muscles.
Swimming style
It is very important to choose the right swimming style. With osteochondrosis of the cervical spine, it is useful to move through the water on the back. This will help maximize muscle relaxation. Breaststroke is also recommended.
After each push with your hands and feet, you should try to glide over the water surface as long as possible. This will help to stretch the spine and get rid of stiffness.
With lumbar osteochondrosis swimming breaststroke brings maximum benefit. Active leg movements help strengthen the muscles that support the lower parts of the spinal column. If the patient is diagnosed with disk damage in the thoracic region, then swimming is necessary lying on his back.
Gymnastics in the water
Water procedures are best taken under the guidance of a therapeutic swimming instructor. A specialist will help you choose an individual gymnastics complex for each patient.
Being in the water, it is useful to perform the following types of exercises:
- Clutching your hands to the side of the pool, you can hang a little. This allows you to stretch the intervertebral spaces and free the restrained tissue.
- If you want to relax a bit, you can put your legs on the side and hang on your back for several minutes. In this case, you need to try to relax the muscles of the neck and arms. It is forbidden to make sudden movements, they can lead to damage to the spine and muscles.
- It is useful to make sweeping movements of the arms and legs in the water, as well as turning the body.
- If swimming is held in a shallow pool, then walking and running along the bottom, as well as squats, are recommended.
Increase the load during water gymnastics should be gradually and carefully. Excessive physical activity can lead to increased pain and stiffness.
The opinion of experts
How effective is swimming with osteochondrosis? Doctors conducted a study among patients regularly visiting the pool. It was found that in this category of patients, the spine was significantly lengthened. With the help of MRI diagnostics, a decrease in degenerative processes in cartilage was revealed. Also, patients showed an increase in growth of about 0.5 - 1.5 cm due to stretching of the spinal column.
Patient Reviews
You can find a lot of positive reviews about swimming with diseases of the spine. Patients report that they have significantly reduced chronic back pain, muscle stiffness has disappeared after morning awakening. Patients with osteochondrosis of the cervical region also note the normalization of blood pressure and the disappearance of dizziness with regular visits to the pool.
However, in some patients there was an increase in pain after swimming. As a rule, this is due to excessive load during classes or lack of warm-up. Pain after swimming was also observed in patients with vertebral hernia. With this complication of osteochondrosis, classes in the pool should take place under the supervision of an exercise instructor.
Conclusion
We can conclude that swimming is useful in the period of remission of osteochondrosis. However, before starting classes, you need to consult with your doctor. You must make sure that there are no contraindications to classes. Exercises in the pool can be beneficial only if all the rules are observed and with a gradual increase in physical activity.