An Introduction to Hydrotherapy meeting review
Wednesday 16th March 2011
My first BVNA Surrey regional meeting was kindly sponsored and hosted by Greyfriars Rehabilitation and Hydrotherapy centre. We started the evening with subway sandwiches and nibbles, and once everybody had their fill we settled down for the talk.
The talk was presented by Angela Griffiths CCRP RCH, the principle of Greyfriars, and the assistant manager Kirsty Arthur CCRP. Angela started the talk with how to find a good, qualified Hydrotherapist and some background of Hydrotherapy (dating back to 2400bc!). Angela and Kirsty then went on to tell us about the science behind Hydrotherapy, giving us some information about buoyancy aids, float coats, viscosity and resistance, hydrostatic pressure and surface tension. Information was provided about what effects we should expect to see short and long term, and the pros and cons of using Jets and treadmills.
At the end of the talk we got to have a chuckle at some amusing photos, ask some questions and look at some videos of dogs in the pool and treadmill. After this we had a chance to stretch our legs and go to see the treadmill in action. We were able to watch Angela's dog Buffy walking in the treadmill with different levels of water. This was a very interesting way to see how the dog moves under different levels of water. While Buffy was being dried off, Kirsty took us to see the drying areas, which were three colourful beach huts!! To end the evening everyone was able to ask questions pool side and see how the jets work.
I would finally like to say thank you to Greyfriars for sponsoring and hosting this meeting, and a huge thank you to Angela and Kirsty for providing such an interesting talk for the nurses of Surrey.
Gemma Harrison RVN MBVNA
Surrey RCO