Warm Water therapeutic effects of an Endless Pool
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When conventional swimming pools in northern latitudes
are covered up and useless, Linda Bain's Endless Pool
is at its most "magnificent," as she describes
it. Linda, a recently retired postal worker who lives
in Wisconsin, has used her pool for a little more than
a year to treat the symptoms of connective tissue disease,
a little-understood inflammation of joints and the soft
tissues that connect them to muscles. And as true of
many other Endless Pool owners, the unit is now integral
to her life and home.
Linda's Endless Pool is adjacent to an east-facing
window wall - part of what makes her exercise environment
so alluring, "especially when there's snow on the
ground," she says. Her customary three-session-a-day
Endless Pool routine begins with a workout between 7:30
and 8:00 AM and lasts for as much as 40 minutes. She
concludes the workout by relaxing in a chaise lounge,
the room bathed in morning light.
The emphasis of the program is on leg exercises, including
kicking against water resistance while holding the bar
and "pedaling" while at the side of the pool;
but her customized unit - 16 inches deeper than standard
- also allows the 5'-5" Linda to work her arms
and shoulders while standing upright. She also swims
the breaststroke against moderate resistance.
Because warmth is important to treating her affliction,
she tries to maintain a temperature of 94 degrees in
winter, 89 degrees in summer. Linda repeats the routine
in the afternoon, following lunch, “and seems
to be renewed again.”
She devised her evening session, which commences at
about 7 PM, to combine soothing movement and pure relaxation.
It sometimes lasts an hour and is laid-back enough to
include watching television.
Linda, 62, finds the benefits accrued from her use
of the Endless Pool both empirical and otherwise. When
she first started exercising in it, for example, she
could complete only about two dozen repetitions of the
breaststroke; now she does 200-300 repetitions. The
incidence of pain related to connective tissue disease
has been reduced to “almost none.” She has
lost “pounds and inches,” and she no longer
feels the need to take prescription medication for sinus
discomfort.
Indeed, Linda views her Endless Pool as “the
greatest thing that’s ever happened to me,”
a revelation she is eager to share.
“There’s never a soul who walks into this
house – be it a serviceman, or a carpet installer,
or whoever – who isn’t shown our pool,”
she laughs. “Because we just are so absolutely
in love with it.”
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