Underwater Rehabilitation

HydroWorx manufactures underwater treadmill therapy pools and hot and cold contrast therapy plunge pools. The treadmill range falls into four groups: freestanding units (ECO, RISE, 350), built-in pools (500, 750 and 3500 Series), Zero-Entry pools with a moving floor (1200 and 2000 Series) and the custom-designed Align. The contrast therapy range extends from single-person plunge pools (XLR8, Thrive ONE) to the modular 28-person team pool (Rejuvenate Plunge). The models differ mainly in size, water depth, treadmill speed, jet and camera equipment, and installation type.

The systems are used by physiotherapy clinics, hospital rehabilitation and sports medicine departments, athletic training centres, professional and university sports teams, and senior care and wellness facilities. Typical applications of the treadmill pools include early mobilisation after injury or orthopaedic surgery, functional treatment of neurological and spinal conditions, gait analysis and gait retraining, balance and muscle-strength development in older adults, and low-impact conditioning for athletes. Depending on water depth, buoyancy reduces body-weight loading by 20–80%. The contrast pools are mainly used for post-training recovery in individual and team recovery programmes.

The freestanding treadmill units are installed without construction work or external plumbing and, depending on the model, fill in 90 seconds to 3 minutes. The built-in pools come in recessed or raised versions; the panels of the sectional versions are assembled on site, so they can be brought into existing buildings through narrow access routes. In the Zero-Entry pools the patient steps in at floor level and the moving floor then descends to the required depth, which supports safe entry for patients with limited mobility and older adults. For the most complex requirements, Align offers a custom concrete pool, from design through to construction.

Contrast pools are chosen mainly by the number of people to be treated at once: there are single-person (XLR8, Thrive ONE), small-group (Thrive, Thrive DUO) and team-sized options (Classic Plunge: 4–8, Thrive EDGE 12 and 15: 8–10, Rejuvenate Plunge: 4–28 people). The Thrive series and the XLR8 are plug-and-play: they run from the mains supply with no plumbing or construction work. The Classic Plunge can be installed above ground or partially or fully recessed, while the Rejuvenate Plunge is built from panels, so it can be relocated and expanded. Depending on the model, water temperature is adjustable between 4 and 40 °C.