It’s estimated that one out of every five Americans experiences some form of chronic nerve pain. Sometimes it’s a result of a serious injury, other times it’s simply from sleeping or sneezing wrong. Relief from that pain can be found in a variety of ways, but for one Sioux Falls woman, the answer is to just keep swimming.
“I've just seen the marvelous things that happen here. People start moving and you can't get better if you don't move. So I'm really a big believer in the water and water therapy!” said Claudia Abraham, a patient who utilizes the Johnson Aquatic Center at Avera McKennan.
“In the Johnson Aquatic Center, we treat a variety of diagnoses from neuromuscular conditions to strokes to someone that maybe had a spinal cord injury,” said Lexi Erickson, DPT a physical therapist at the Avera McKennan Inpatient Rehab.
In Erickson’s opinion, many patients and swimmers are dealing with chronic nerve pain or general orthopedic conditions like preparing for surgery or they've just had like a knee replacement or other serious surgery. In Claudia’s case it was a series of issues that seemingly compounded on top of each other.
“Well, I hurt my back in January and if you've ever had sciatic nerve pain down your leg, you know that it's miserable!” said Abraham.
The pain was so intense it kept her from getting good sleep at night and just prevented her from getting comfortable in doing simple tasks or sitting in a chair. That’s why she sought relief in the water under the guidance of Lexi and the aquatic therapy team.
“A lot of times, being in the water, when we do have back pain or that radiating nerve pain, just taking the pressure off our spine when we can do things with less weight bearing really helps to allow that inflammation to go down and just decompress certain areas and helps them feel better,” said Erickson.
The exercises are varied but designed to give Claudia autonomy while also challenging her to push a little bit harder to build up strength.
“She does some jogging with a belt on, she does some exercise holding on to our Aquarius station just to get some general mobility through her hips, and then we usually go over to the warm water pool,” said Erickson.
The warm water pool is designed to help with pain management and is shallow enough to allow patients to do some water walking to work their core in all directions as well as leg strengthening.
“The warm water is perfect for me. It's the best place to exercise with arthritis. I think it's one of the best ways to get exercise so it's not so hard on your joints," said Abraham.
In 2023, the Johnson Aquatic Center celebrated its 30th anniversary of caring for patients at Avera McKennan, a milestone that shouldn’t be overlooked.
“I think it's amazing that we've been open for 30 years. I think the patient population that we treat has changed a lot over the years and now because we have been able to serve so many people in various clinics, people do start to look at us as, OK, this can really be beneficial for patients and can serve a lot of our community that maybe is limited otherwise in exercise,” said Erickson.
Claudia is just one of those patients who has benefited from exercise in the water, but she’s also witnessed first-hand the life-changing work that happens in these pools.
“I see people get in and out of their wheelchairs into the water. I mean, they just are wonderful at what they do to help patients or people like me,” said Abraham.
“We can't live our whole life in the water. We do want them to eventually be able to tolerate some activity at home as well. So just progressing her in a kind of graded way that she can tolerate. Eventually those symptoms reduced and she was no longer having that pain in her leg or back,” said Erickson.
“Yes, it's been a great experience and I keep coming back. I work here on my own at least once a week. Give it a try. It's worth a try!” said Abraham.
The Johnson Aquatic Center does require a physician's referral for physical therapy services. After patients have completed their physical therapy, they do have an option to continue to use the pools on an independent basis. The center also hosts specialty therapy classes including the Parkinson’s Aquatic Program, Arthritis Foundation Arthritis Class and Adapted Aquatics.
