Swimming is amazing exercise for pain patients. The benefits of swimming are:
- Swimming burns calories and builds muscles.
- The water provides natural resistance.
- Water can relieve aching muscles and joints and give relief during the heat.
- Swimming strengthens the neck and back muscles.
- Swimming is completely low impact and is much easier on joints.
- If the pool water is warm enough, the warm water can promote blood flow and improve healing if there has been an injury.
Swimming in a pool can feel comfortable but still provide a solid workout. Consider adding these components to some of your swimming workouts.
- Ambient music. If you are at a public pool, you are at the mercy of the lifeguard’s music selections. But any upbeat music keeps boredom at bay.
- A large visible clock is a great resource. Then you can keep track of time as opposed to laps, which can sometimes be difficult.
- If you vary your strokes with a few laps with a kickboard, you will get a very strong leg workout while giving your arms a bit of a break. This is also helpful if your arms or shoulders are weaker or in pain.
- Change your strokes. Alternate crawl, breaststroke and backstroke. If you are a particularly strong swimmer, you can throw in a butterfly stroke once in a while, too.
- Hate going back and forth? Tread water for a while. To make it even more of a calorie burn, tread water while holding water weights.
Swimming workouts can have endless variety and can be an enjoyable component of a healthy lifestyle.