Hydrotherapy Rehabilitational Gymnastics (HRG) is recommended for children from 6 months to 8, and in some cases to 12 years of age who have one or several of the following symptoms:
HRG is a complimentary therapy to both the TSMT I and the TSMT II therapy. The method takes advantage of the characteristics of the aquatic medium (temperature, buoyancy, fluid resistance, etc.) and the circumstance that this environment provides constant stimulus in contact with the skin, which has a very good effect on the children’s nervous system. In non-cooperative, difficult-to-connect children, it is recommended that TSMT I therapy be complemented with HRG therapy, because the changed medium has a positive influence on both the balance stimuli and cooperation, and plays a major role in downplaying non-integrated archaic reflexes.
HRG therapy takes place in lukewarm water, where therapists select the suitable task for children from more than 1,000 items for the homogeneous groups, based on their deficit and level of knowledge.
An important characteristic of the HRG therapy is the parents’ participation in the pool session, while the HRG therapist instructs the group of 10-12 people accordingly. Using a variety of tools, we give active and passive stimuli to the children in a range of situations, so they can challenge themselves, learn to respond to the different balance positions, gain experience with their own bodies, become smarter, while their perception, attention and memory improves.
The more than 1,000 tasks are carried out in a system of increasing difficulty, following the stages of the children’s motor development, with the help of the parent/attendant, in a training pool setting.
Each session of the HRG therapy lasts 40-90 minutes, 1-2 times a week. Therapists practice each training series 5-10 times with the children and their parents: since the proper postural control in the water develops and becomes safe more slowly, a higher number of repetitions is recommended. The sessions of HRG therapies both start and finish with the LongiKid Longitudinal Complex Examination.