Physiotherapy and Hydrotherapy

Hydrotherapy
Royal Brisbane Children's Hospital.

Luke started Physiotherapy when he was 2/12 yrs old, firstly to teach him to walk. By this stage he was standing, and the soles of his feet were relatively free from blisters. ( With thanks to a cream we were acquiring on a trial basis from the USA.) After 6 months or so Luke began to take his first steps, David worked wonders on him, playing games teaching him to climb and generally building up his self confidence and self esteem. Luke absolutely loves going to Physio, he trusts his leaders there, and knows where to have fun.

Last October we decided it was time for Luke to learn to swim, we have a swimming pool at home, but until mid summer its cool. With much talking and debating we managed to get Luke into swimming lessons in the new Hydrotherapy pool, David teaching him water confidence and safety whilst for the first few weeks Luke screamed. However he over came the fear and began to enjoy it, now he is a happy water baby and spends most of his time hiding under water so as not to hear instructions from the swimming teacher Lindsay.

Below is an article written by David for other Hydrotherapy units around the country, encouraging EB simplex children into the water. It does them so much good, and gives them freedom without the fear of loosing skin. The chlorine and salt aids healing, and they do not tend to blister whilst immersed in water. Luke can be like any other child whilst in the safety of a swimming pool….he can now swim and the more he does the better his skin.

Luke is a 4 year old boy with EB simplex (Dowling Meara type). Luke presents with widespread blisters and open wounds all over his trunk and limbs, with less frequent blistering and wounds on his face and feet. He is mildly delayed developmentally, has only poor to moderate protective reactions, poor upper limb strength, experiences some difficulty with high level balance activities, not walking until he was three years old due to large painful blisters on the soles of his feet.

The Royal Children’s Hospital new hydrotherapy pool with its advanced infection control equipment has enabled Luke to enjoy the benefits of aquatic physiotherapy and swimming without the concomitant risks of infection. The benefits for Luke include: improved balance and coordination without fear of falling, increased muscle strength, improved proximal control, improved respiratory and cardiovascular fitness and endurance and water confidence, decreased blistering especially the legs, decreased pressure through the soles of the feet as a result of the buoyant effects of the water, reduced problems with constipation due to the increase in activity levels increasing the appetite therefore Luke able to eat more iron thereby decreasing his need for iron supplementation and thereby reducing constipation combined with hydrostatic pressure on his gut promoting bowel movement and increased abdominal muscle activity promoting gut motility, self esteem and psychological benefits. Decreased falling resulting in him exploring his environment to a greater degree resulting in improved quality of life.

As safety was paramount, with the risk of infection needing to be minimised at all costs it was decided after consultation with infection control specialists that hydrotherapy sessions would be first thing in the morning when the pool would be without a doubt at its absolute cleanest/most sterile.

A big thank you to all for their continuous support and patience, without physiotherapy Luke would not be enjoying life to its maximum, he now attends pre-school and seems to be getting along with other children and takes part in all activities.