United Brachial Plexus Network, Inc.

My son Justin will be 5 soon, and I've started to notice some tightness in his arm that wasn't there just a few months ago. A new therapy center has opened up in town with a great pool therapy program. We tried one session last Thursday and it was FANTASTIC! The director himself came out of his office to perform Justin's evaluation, was very interested in every aspect of the injury and recovery, surgery, therapy, the whole picture. And he was so good with Justin, I was just so impressed! Then when we went to the pool, another therapist got in the pool with Justin, but the dirctory stayed pool side, watching and thinking of ways to help Justin work that arm while making it all seem like a game. The director quietly asked me if I've ever considered somehow bracing the uninjured arm down, so he'd be forced to use the injured one. While I've never been brave enough to try this myself, I gave them the go-ahead to try it as long as Justin was receptive to the idea. Well, they made it a game, Justin thought it was the greatest and he used his injured arm to swim all the way across the pool! I could have just kissed these guys!

I'm so impressed with this program, I'm wondering what other programs are like? How long do the sessions normally last and how much do they cost? We pay out of pocket, $40 per 45 min. session. We were also told that the sessions commonly run to about an hour if the child is cooperating. Is that comparable to other programs? And what kind of results have you seen? I'd really like to hear other experiences, so share please!

thanks!
Tricia

Tricia,
My Alexyss is in pool therapy and I love it! It is alot easier than land. I also pay out of pocket which runs me $40 a week. I think it is well worth it. Usually ours lasts 45 minutes, but if you let them know that you don't have a lot of money to spare, they sometimes let you go over and not charge you. I know Francine and Maia have done pool therapy and also loved it! If you are comfortable with the therapist and the pool itself, then stick with it! I am so happy you found something you and your son have liked. It makes therapy a lot easier. Good luck to you!

Tracey

th. Tracey and Tricia,

Does your insurance not cover this? Are these licensed physical therapists that are doing the therapy? Just wondering as we will begin aquatherapy Sept 9th.

Hi Tricia,
My daughter Amanda is in Aquatherapy. She loves it! Have you checked into your insurance covering it as physical therapy? Ours' covers a limited amount of visits. BTW, I just saw the bill they are sending the insurance company and it's $118 for a half hour session. You are getting a good deal for $40 but you should still check to see if insurance will help. Once our insurance stops paying, we're going to take her to an indoor pool and do the exercises with her ourselves. Have fun!!!!

Our insurance will only cover therapy received in a hospital setting. But there are no pools for therapy at any local (or not so local) hospitals. This new therapy center is the only place with heated indoor pool. I'm still digging around, trying to find a way to get this covered, but for now, it's out of pocket. If necessary, I can use funds from Justin's trust fund (from the lawsuit), but I hate to use any $ from there, so we'll pay out of pocket until it becomes a financial burden. I'm not complaining at all because I think $40 per session is a great rate! But he's going twice a week, so $320 a month can get hairy. And I know a lot of people aren't as lucky to have a trust fund to fall back on if necessary, so we take what we can get and be glad we got it.

The therapy is done by PT's or PTA's, but honestly, it could be a teenage kid in the pool with him encouraging him to use that arm and it would be just as beneficial I think. Teenagers are more fun to swim with than mom, ya know? And for this to really work with Justin, it needs to be all about having fun.

I'm glad others are having luck with it as well!

omgosh YES IT WORKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!
what youre doing sounds great- we were blessed to have a hospital with a great pool(we live in S Florida, pools everywhere) in the physiocal rehab building located less than a mile from where we lived, which was lucky because untill a year and a half ago I didnt own a car- (rambling sorry) The childrens medical services covered our expenses but the out of pocket cash price sound s very reasonable- funny the pool was the first time formal therapists discussed ...hampering the uninjured arm with something in order to manipulate the use of the injured arm also, I love the way you said the thera[pist was doing it- it sounds to me like you are in a very good situation. And you can watch and do exactly the same stuff the therapist is doing too- later, in a pool yourself, for free!!!NOT to say I dont think its worth it to continue paying oput of pocket if you can for a while to learn and get the hang of it, do they let you go in the pool? I used to go in and the therapist would show me how to do stuff and how different stuff worked too-
happy splashing and wet ROMs
mary

Oh, I love aquatherapy!
I think Juliana did so well after modquad because we had a heated aquatherapy pool and program to go to!
Our particular program was geared toward younger kids, so we did it like a Mom and Me. We sang songs and did activities and things like that. They were easy about coming and going (they ran more than one class on Saturday ams)so I would get into the pool with her and warm her up (didn't take long...) and then do a whole series of ranging exercises. Then we started the class. She loved it!! We drive past the building (part of a school for the disabled) all the time and she still says "that's my pool!"
Her preschool has their own pool, so she will have regular swim lessons once a week for 45 minutes. It is not heated, but she is very accomplished in the pool. Even at 3 years old, they have removed the "bubble" from her back and are teaching her without it. I will take her (and all the other sibs) swimming an additional day.
By the way, we used a Speedo training suit. It is a regular suit with panels sewn in. Into the panels you put up to 6 blow up "balloons". I found it to be a wonderful tool in a therapy class, as she felt very secure in the water. Perhaps a bit too secure, as she got older!!! (I swim by self, mommmy!!) This suit does not get in the way of their arms and allows you to progress to swimming independently. You can find them at Target sometimes, but you can also find them at Speedo.com.
Have fun!!!
claudia

Summer Swim team is also a great thing to do through the parks system. It is great exercise and eventhough my son had to do his own variety of altered strokes the judges were great about it. And sadly but thankfully I never had to explain to the judges before the meets started as they saw it themselves and just left him alone. He won first place in breast stroke a lot of times!! As he got older that was really the only stoke he preferred and competed at. That was o.k. though. Unfortunately he doesn't do it now and doesn't swim very much at all!!! I'm hoping it's a teenage thing and he will go back to it!!
T.
T.

Being in the pool is great! Aquatherapy CAN be great-if - like anything else- you have a great therapist.

We had a great therapist who left his job and have not found anyone since BUT we try to get in pool time whenver we can (meaning whenever the pool chemicals don't send Maia away with welts and get her sick for a month!)

We just came back from Florida seeing my parents and they have an outdoor pool where they live which is heated to a comfortable 92 degrees and is chemicaled to perfection... we spent about 6 hours each day in the pool and what a workout Maia got! (me too). I can't stress enough how wonderful being in the water is for our kids. I found that having her in water where she couldn't touch bottom was the best because her shoulders were guaranteed to be underwater. I did all sorts of things with her.

So my suggestion is that you should take your child to a pool as often as you can... if aquatherapy weekly is out of your financial range, then get a therapy session once a month or once every three months where you are taught what you should do during that time period....and you do the work with your child yourself.

Water is FUN- gosh just splashing around with two arms is GREAT work!! Splash in all different directions. Bring toys - push them down into the water - play ball -

and.... your next Outreach will have a wonderful article on what you can do in the pool !!! It'll be out in the mail soon!

-francine

We have done some aqua therapy - one therapist was great, one was still new at it. They taught us what to do on our own - but frankly it didn't work out very well. With our three year old learning how to swim underwater, adn Sophie at 16 months trying to be adventurous, we found ourselves basically just trying to keep everyone alive! Plus, our community pool was often too cold for her - she didn't cooperate.

To do it on our own, I've had greater success inthe bath! I put her in one of those child seats that keeps her sitting up, then fill the tub with warm water to her armpits. Her sister's in there too. They have a great time! Bubbles work great too if there skin doesn't break out.