Health issues and diversity
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June 8, 2009
We are not made to live so old. The first men barely exceeded their twentieth year. But that's the way it is, and the planet is full of groans and sighs from all kinds of vertebrates. My personal case (I managed to avoid arthrodesis for 33 years):
Check spondylolysis on Google and look at the images. Definitely not encouraging.
I wrote a comic strip about the subject, the Spondyloscope. Being able to do maintenance strength training in a warm water pool would relieve millions of us bipeds. Joints, unlike batteries, wear out when not used. It is the alternating stresses on the bones and joints that prevent decalcification. And this applies to all joints. So much so that the first thing astronauts suffer from, if they don't do intense daily gymnastics, is... decalcification.
But age, weight gain, and difficulty in moving easily increase the difficulties for people, especially the elderly. Not everyone can afford the luxury of having an indoor, heated swimming pool at home. If I were to design a retirement home, I would immediately include an aqua gym pool, with a view of the garden, or in an attractive setting, with green plants. The future residents would feel much better.
Some companies offer jacuzzis or "spas" at gold prices, whose main virtue is to have up to eight water jets, plus machines that make bubbles, etc.
Two meters in diameter externally. 1.80 meters internally.
6000 euros.....
But even if it's pleasant, it doesn't replace aquagym, pool movements, and most of the time the pool is too small and too shallow to move around. It's "a device to relax".
Having studied the issue...
I implemented the following definitive solution.
I have it in a small ground floor room attached to my house. Under construction. There is a deeper "pit" allowing essential movements for the recovery of a herniated disc. Unfortunately, such depths are only found in pools, in the "big bath". Even physiotherapists who gather together to buy a collective pool can't ensure depths greater than 1.2 m.
What's the point?
In the "pit" (2 meters, it's a bit too much. It's enough to not have your feet on the bottom. We reduced this depth to 1.8 m), you can stand in a vertical position, like this:
There, you float with your head out of the water, "without having your feet on the bottom".
In water at 40°C, after a dozen minutes of immobility, the body is completely relaxed. This is essential for all the muscles of the spine to relax. Otherwise, they are tense due to the phenomenon of antalgia and compress the discs through a reflex action, totally unconscious. Then you can make the gesture of "trying to get out of the water", by pulling on your arms. The torso emerges by 10 cm, no more. That's enough. It's a "self-manipulation", all in a gentle way. You think you're doing the same thing by hanging from a bar fixed in your hallway. But the effect is not the same at all. First, the traction on the spine is much more violent (the whole weight of the lower body pulls on your spine). There is little chance that your spinal muscles will accept to relax in such a stressful situation. As with antalgia, the reflex contraction will persist, and this "self-manipulation" will not give the expected result. Your body will say "I don't trust it, let's stay tense."
Then, the body is allowed to naturally descend back into the water, and Archimedes does the rest. And we repeat. This movement decompresses the discs and encourages the nuclei to return to their place. To be completed with a slight "twist" movement without ever forcing. If it hurts, it's not good. I have managed to get out of it many times in 33 years by doing it this way. All physiotherapists would say "we start by mobilizing without effort to restore the joint's flexibility and functionality". This applies to vertebrae, a hip, a knee, a shoulder (for example, to recover from a retraction of the glenohumeral capsule). Water allows the weight to disappear.
After that, when things are back in place, we start the actual muscle training to tone the "inner corset". You have 72 brooms, little girl forearms, biceps and dangling calves? Tell yourself that inside it's the same. And if these muscles are essential to support the spine, hello troubles. Only, to do this, you need a pool. I have gone to pools a thousand times. I never liked it. Taking your car, finding a parking spot, going to the counter, to the changing room, ending up alone in a pool pedaling like an idiot, under prison-like lighting. And the reverse on the way back.
A pool at home, with ten minutes a day: guaranteed health. You can put a fixed bar to work your arms, shoulders, etc. And put green plants, make the place nice, play music, anything. A pool like this could be installed in a... basement, provided there is adequate ventilation. If you suffer from claustrophobia, install a DVD player in a plexiglass box, waterproof (I would do it).
Let's move on to the technical aspects. The solution we considered: no drainage at the bottom, so no risk of leakage. Pipes that go down and are used to fill, empty and circulate the water. Provide a slight slope at the bottom and a "grate", with a filter to collect hair or other.
The pool itself.
Here, I pass the word to my friend Jacques Juan:
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Concrete blocks + reinforcement for the front wall. A reinforced screed (light, it's not blockaus!) for the bottom.
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Insulation panels of polyurethane foam (blue or green, for buildings, resistant to polyester resin) glued to concrete with special building glue, taking care of the joints to avoid thermal bridges: this is essential to prevent heat loss from the 3000L of water at 40°C. Thickness: 5 cm.
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Lamination with polyester resin + glass fiber in a "Rowing" sheet, fairly thick (I think 450 or 500 grams/m² would do... and maybe even thicker) and, if needed, reinforce the corners with a second layer of fiber cut into 10 cm wide strips.
Glue the tiles with special pool glue: it adheres to all supports like old tiles, concrete, glass, resin.
Heating:
Putting heating elements in the walls? Complicated. We choose an external closed circuit, with a heating element and thermostat. After filling the pool, a fairly long time to raise the temperature of these 3 cubic meters of water. After that, the system simply maintains these 38-40°C. When the pool is not in use, cover the water with a 5 cm thick polyurethane plate, which floats on top and provides thermal insulation. Very light: it can be maneuvered with...