Aquatic Therapy

Welcome to Our Aquatic Physical Therapy Program!

In conjunction with the Whitin Community Center (WCC), Blackstone Valley Physical Therapy Services, Inc. is pleased to offer aquatic therapy in the warm water pools located at 60 Main St. in Whitinsville, MA. It is our hope that having physical therapy treatments in our office, as well as in a pool setting, will allow patients to get better results from their treatments. Marcia Samsel-Witkus, PTA will be providing individual therapy sessions to help address the issues and limitations noted by your primary therapist. Marcia has been delivering aquatic therapy treatments for over a decade in Westborough, and she is excited to do so here in the Blackstone Valley as well.

The Whitin Community Center is located less than 1.5 miles down Linwood Ave on the corner of Main Street and Hill Street. The parking lot entrance is your first left when heading "up" or North on Hill Street. The phone number there is 508-234-8184. Upon entering, please tell the receptionist that you are attending your aquatic therapy session with Marcia from BVPT. They will direct you to the locker room, or you can follow the temporary signs that will be posted. Once you have changed and are ready to enter the pool for you session, please follow the signs at the opposite end of the locker room from where you entered and go up the stairs to the original pool. Here you should be able to find Marcia and begin on your wet road to recovery.

When planning your first aquatic therapy visit, please keep the following in mind:

• Please allow time to find the locker room and pool. This will be imperative to getting your full treatment time in the pool. We only have limited time allotted for us by WCC at this time.
• If you are changing into your bathing suit in the locker room, please allow time to do so prior to your visit, to allow you to be at the pool at your scheduled time.
• If you are uncomfortable in a bathing suit, clean shorts and a shirt are allowed as well. Bringing bathing caps are an option for those that don't want to get their hair wet.
• Please bring your own towel.
• There are showers available. Please use these prior to your session if needed, and feel free to use them afterward as well.
• You may want to bring a water bottle as well.
• While there is handicap access to the facility and the pool, currently we are only able to safely handle patients that can safely enter and exit the pool with stairs and railings.
• The same co-payments or deductible payment will be due for each aquatic therapy session, but unfortunately with Marcia working with clients, she won't be able to accept payments due to the nature of working in the pool. Payments can be made prior to aquatic therapy sessions at our office to keep your account current and avoid late fees.

Aquatic Therapy Photo Gallery

Click the photos below for a close-up view of our aquatic therapy sessions.

FAQs

Aquatic therapy allows patients to take advantage of the physical properties of water to assist them in performing therapeutic exercises or positions that will help them work toward their physical therapy goals. The buoyancy of the water allows people to exercise with less compressive force on their joints and can allow people with limited weight-bearing restriction to begin to walk normally. This will vary on the depth of the water. The hydrostatic pressure can help those with compromised cardiovascular systems and those with swelling in extremities. The viscosity of the water can support those with poor balance, as well as providing increased resistance to those able to move quickly.

Not everyone can take advantage of this program, as there are some limitations and precautions. If any of the following apply, you may not be able to participate until these issues are resolved.

• Sensitivity to heat or chemicals
• Any sort of open or healing wound or sore
• Incontinence (plastic pants NOT provided)
• Uncontrolled Epilepsy, seizures, angina, or diabetes
• Communicable Illness
• Menstruation without internal protection
• Orthostatic hypertension or blood pressure that is too high or too low

Most insurance companies cover the billing code for aquatic physical therapy. Each visit will count the same as an office visit against the approved number of visits each patient had obtained. Keeping this in mind, each aquatic therapy visit will be subject to the same patient financial responsibility (co-pay, deductible, etc) that an office visit would require. Payments will need to be made in our Linwood Mill office.

The Whitin Community Center is allowing us to rent the pool for limited periods. In order to allow all of our patients to get the care they need in this setting, it is imperative that patients are poolside and ready to enter at their scheduled time. This will allow the therapist to focus on treatments rather than calling to find patients. If you are unable to make your visit, please call our office at 508-234-7544. In order to avoid the cancellation fee, please give us 48 hours notice per our cancellation policy. If you are going to be late, please let us know as well, and we reserve the right to refuse patients that are late and we are unable to accommodate due to schedules. Unfortunately, this will be subject to our cancellation fee as well, so please make every effort to be on time to allow you and our other patients to get the most out of their treatment.

Much like typical "land" physical therapy visits, this will vary due to a myriad of factors. The severity of injury or issue, as well as the overall health and compliance of the patient, are factors in any rehabilitation. Our aquatic program will be used in conjunction with our typical "land" office visits to speed up one's recovery as quickly as possible. In some cases, this can be as little as 3-4 weeks. In other cases, it may take months. When scheduling appointments, plan to have at least 1 office / "land" visit for every 2-3 aquatic visits.