The Healing Benefits of Hydrostatic Pressure
As featured in Healthy Beginnings Magazine
Have you have ever wondered why you feel so good when you get out of the water? The secret lies in the natural properties that water has and how it affects your body. Water offers many healing benefits that assist with improved health, pain relief, and much more. Buoyancy, temperature, and other properties of water have an impact on you; however, hydrostatic pressure has the most significant effect on your body.
Hydrostatic pressure is the force of water that is exerted on to the immersed body. The pressure that surrounds the body works much like compression socks. Arteries that take oxygen-rich blood to your muscles relax and blood flows freely. The pressure reduces the diameter of distended veins, which increases flow velocity and gives veins a boost pushing blood back to your heart. Compression stockings can keep your legs from getting tired and achy, so imagine what this type of compression can do for your entire body! The natural compression that water provides also reduces painful lactic acid buildup and supports detoxification.
Hydrostatic pressure provides a natural cardio workout. When you are submerged in water, water's natural pressure applies constant resistance to your chest wall. As you expand and compress your chest muscles, hydrostatic pressure helps you release more air than you usually would upon exhaling, strengthens chest muscles, and increases lung capacity.
Hydrostatic pressure is a powerful, drug-free pain relief tool. Pain is essentially an "alarm" signal that travels from your nerves to your brain. Hydrostatic pressure uniquely turns down these signals dampening sensory input to the brain. The natural force also causes you to breathe diaphragmatically. When you breathe from your diaphragm (also known as "belly breathing"), it resets your parasympathetic nervous system and reduces pain signals providing natural pain relief. People suffering from fibromyalgia, amputation, sciatica, chronic back pain, and any neurological, sensory, or musculoskeletal disorder significantly benefit from the healing benefits of hydrostatic pressure.