5. Recovery at Home

 

The Benefits of Hydrotherapy

_Knee-Bathtub.jpg
 

WARNING: DO NOT ATTEMPT TO TAKE A BATH UNTIL YOU ARE CERTAIN YOU CAN GET OUT OF THE TUB!*

The greatest reward for having the staples removed was that with it came permission to take hot baths. In researching why hot baths seem so enjoyable, apart from the luxury of the quiet, warmth and isolation, I found the following statement which summarized everything very well.

“When you sit in a hot tub, water pressure, buoyancy and heat work together to reduce levels of stress and muscle tension. Heat plays a major role in providing relief to sore muscles. Spending a few minutes in the hot tub can significantly reduce muscle pain as increases [in] the internal temperature . . . helps enhance blood flow. [This] warms up your body and dilates blood vessels which in turn lowers blood pressure and enhances the blood flow to muscle areas where it is most needed.” See: https://bit.ly/2y7eDsm

The buoyancy of the water helps sore muscles by reducing muscle stress. This is the reason that even a 20 min session in a hot tub provides significant relief from muscle soreness. Here are a few other ideas on how to optimize the benefits of a hot bath.

 
_Foot-bath-.jpg

Relax tight foot muscles by rolling ball in hot water

1. It is not necessary to make the water extremely hot to enjoy the benefits of a warm bath. Water just above body temperature is satisfactory.

2. If the water is very hot, make sure to have “body radiators” i.e. a cold, wet cloth on the head or around the neck or hands to help dissipate excessive heat that can otherwise be debilitating.

3. If you find sleeping difficult, take your bath several hours before bedtime.

4. Since enduring a period of heat can lead to a loss of hydration, remember to drink extra water before and after your bath.

5. Soaking in a hot tub can lead to a sense of well being (since warmth is comforting in itself) and relaxed muscle tone. This is an excellent time to do some bath-friendly exercises. I also found that the trigger points in my feet and the back of my calves (Glossary of PT terms here) responded well to rolling over the hard lacrosse ball I placed on the bottom of the tub and against the far side. The additional buoyancy of the water enable me to more precisely control the amount of pressure I placed on the ball.

6. The period following a bath (or a hot shower) is an excellent time to exercise because heat relaxes and elongates the collagen fibers – the main component of connective tissue in your body. Relaxed muscles seemed more amenable to flexing and to stretching.

7. Therapeutic Contrasting is the term for quickly changing tissue temperature from hot to cold and back again. I found that following a hot bath with an ice pack on a sore muscle, or vice versa, gave me some control over managing my recovery and, at times, even improved how I felt.

Fortunately, the handles on our tub enabled me to pull myself up without too much effort. However, even a year post-surgery, I have been in other situations where the tub’s dimensions limited my movement options, and I could not get out on my own. Bathtub safety bars and grab bars are available for purchase online and if you are a bath-lover, I would recommend buying one, installing it and practicing with it before having surgery.

It is crucial to remember how difficult it is to get out of a tub when you are traveling (especially if you are alone). While you may be able to get out of your tub by yourself at home, the process you used there may not work on another tub with different dimensions. While tubs can be terrific, showers are safer. When in doubt – stay out (of the tub).

Also, doctors advise against entering a jacuzzi for a month after surgery for those fortunate enough to have one.

*The ROM (range of motion) estimate for getting out of the bath unaided is approximately 135 degrees of flexion, see link: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10998612.