HealthScout-Dieting-Pool Therapy May Ease Arthritis -
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Published on: 10/16/2004
Last Visited: 10/16/2004
"The surprise in this study was that there was any functional gain in the hydro group," says lead author Maria Crotty, head of the Flinders University department of rehabilitation and aged care in Adelaide, Australia.
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"Hydrotherapy is very useful with overweight patients who find aerobic exercise difficult (often they have painful knees and/or hips)," Crotty writes."Osteoarthritis is a growing problem in overweight populations, and the common advice is [to]walk, but many of this patient group are reluctant or unable to walk."
If you want to focus on strengthening muscles, however, it's probably more efficient to use the gym, she adds.
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SOURCES: Maria Crotty, Ph.D., head, department of rehabilitation and aged care, Flinders University, Repatriation General Hospital, Adelaide, Australia; Stephen Honig, M.D., director, Osteoporosis Center, Hospital for Joint Diseases, New York City; December 2003 Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases