WATSU applications
Relaxation and hydrotherapyWatsu is suitable for almost anyone, and for any age-group – mothers -to-be, children, adults and the elderly. It’s an accessible, low-threshold activity, and you don’t have to be able to swim. Watsu may be integrated into ante-natal care or can be done purely for recreation, to counteract the strain and stress of everyday life. For sportspeople, Watsu can be a blissful form of relaxation.
The sensation of weightlessness and the experience of being held and rocked in warm water make Watsu a tremendous experience. It imparts an intense feeling of total, deep relaxation, and its beneficial effects may last for many days afterwards.
The physiological effects of this relaxation may include:
- Reduced blood pressure and heart rate
- Deeper breathing
- Pain relief and anxiety reduction
- Metabolic stimulation
- Muscular extension (by stretching muscles that have become shortened)
- Greater passive mobility of the joints
- Extension of the vertebral column
- Softening of connective tissue
Physiotherapists, movement therapists and other healthcare professionals are becoming increasingly interested in the new hydrotherapeutic benefits that Watsu offers, as a supplement to existing methods of therapy. During trials in a variety of healthcare sectors, Watsu has been found effective in treating:
- Burn-out syndrome
- Stress-related ailments such as migraine, neck and shoulder pain
- Asthma
- RSI
- Fibromyalgia
- Rheumatism
- Spasticity
- Clients recuperating from brain-stroke (cerebrovascular accident)
- Wheelchair-bound children and adults
- Degenerative joint disease
- Osteoporosis
- Pain (e.g. in cancer patients)
- Comatose patients
- Clients affected by bereavement
