Aquatic therapy is not swimming laps or doing water aerobics at a gym. It’s a clinical rehabilitation program supervised by a licensed physical therapist in a controlled pool environment. The water is heated to reduce muscle tension and pain. The buoyancy offloads 50 to 90 percent of your body weight depending on depth, which lets you move joints and load muscles that can’t handle full gravity yet. At Dolphin Pointe, our two therapy pools are equipped with underwater treadmills that let your therapist control speed and incline while watching your gait on a video monitor in real time. Your therapist stands poolside — or in the water with you — adjusting your form, correcting compensations, and progressing your program at every session. This is the same level of physical therapy you’d receive in the gym, delivered in an environment that makes early-stage recovery possible without the pain that land-based exercises produce. We offer aquatic therapy for both inpatient and outpatient patients at our rehabilitation center in Jacksonville’s Arlington neighborhood.

Aquatic therapy isn’t for every patient. But for the right conditions, it accelerates recovery in ways land-based therapy alone cannot. If any of these describe your situation, ask your therapist or physician about water-based rehabilitation.

Our aquatic therapy program operates out of two purpose-built heated therapy pools inside our rehabilitation facility. Both pools are equipped with underwater treadmills that allow your therapist to control walking speed and incline while monitoring your gait on a video screen in real time. This isn’t a community pool with a therapist standing on the deck giving verbal cues. Your therapist is either in the water with you or working from poolside controls, making hands-on adjustments and progressing your program based on what they see in your movement patterns. Patients recovering from orthopedic surgeries, fractures, and joint replacements from Arlington, University Park, and across Jacksonville start aquatic therapy as early as their surgeon allows.

Aquatic therapy pairs directly with our land-based physical therapy program. Many patients do both in the same visit — starting in the pool to warm up joints and practice movement patterns, then moving to the gym for progressive strengthening once the body is warmed and loosened. This combination is especially effective for patients dealing with arthritis, post-surgical stiffness, and chronic pain. For stroke recovery patients, the pool allows gait training and weight shifting exercises in an environment where a fall is impossible — building the confidence to progress to land-based walking faster.

We serve both inpatient residents who use the pools daily as part of their rehab schedule and outpatient clients from Fairways Forest, Colony Cove, Mandarin, and across Duval County who drive in for scheduled sessions. Our certified aquatic therapists coordinate with our occupational therapy and speech therapy teams when a patient’s recovery crosses multiple disciplines — so your pool session is connected to your full care plan, not happening in isolation.

Aquatic therapy sounds like it should be widely available in Florida — a state surrounded by water. But the reality is that most outpatient physical therapy clinics in Duval County don’t have therapy pools. The equipment, space, and maintenance costs put it out of reach for standalone offices. The clinics that do offer pool-based therapy typically have a single warm water pool without underwater treadmills or video gait analysis. Dolphin Pointe operates two heated therapy pools with full treadmill and video systems — a setup designed for clinical rehabilitation, not recreational exercise.

Jacksonville’s warm climate actually works in favor of aquatic therapy patients. Muscle and joint stiffness — common in post-surgical and arthritic patients — tends to be less severe in warmer environments, which means patients in our heated pools often start sessions with less baseline stiffness than patients in colder climates. Combined with the buoyancy benefits and the treadmill technology, our aquatic therapy program gives Jacksonville patients a recovery tool that accelerates timelines for joint replacements, spinal procedures, fracture recovery, and chronic pain management.

We serve patients from Arlington, University Park, Fairways Forest, Colony Cove, Woodmere, Gilmore, Lake Lucina, Springfield, San Marco, Riverside, Avondale, Mandarin, Regency, Orange Park, Southside, Downtown Jacksonville, Jacksonville Beach, Neptune Beach, and Atlantic Beach. We accept most major insurance plans, including Medicare. Call 904-914-8801 to schedule an aquatic therapy evaluation.

If you’ve never done pool-based rehabilitation, here’s how it works from your first session.

1. Evaluation and pool clearance. Your physical therapist evaluates your condition, surgical restrictions, and therapy goals. They determine whether aquatic therapy is appropriate for your specific recovery — not every condition benefits from the pool, and your therapist will be honest about whether it’s right for you.

2. Pool orientation. Your first pool session starts with an orientation to the space — the entry ramp or steps, the treadmill controls, the depth markers, and how to communicate with your therapist during the session. Water temperature is maintained at therapeutic levels to relax muscles and reduce pain.

3. Guided movement and gait training. Your therapist directs your exercises in the water — walking on the underwater treadmill, range of motion drills, balance work, and resistance exercises using the water itself as resistance. Video gait analysis lets your therapist watch your walking pattern on a monitor and make real-time corrections.

4. Land and pool combination (when appropriate). Many patients pair aquatic therapy with land-based PT in the same visit. You start in the pool to warm up, loosen joints, and practice movement patterns, then move to the therapy gym for progressive strengthening. Your therapist manages the transition and adjusts the intensity of each component.

5. Progress tracking and program adjustment. Your therapist tracks treadmill speed, distance, range of motion, and exercise intensity at every session. As you progress in the pool, exercises get harder — faster treadmill speeds, shallower water depth (less buoyancy), more resistance. The goal is always to progress toward land-based function, using the pool as a bridge.

Dolphin Pointe Health Care is a Florida licensed skilled nursing and rehabilitation facility that has been serving Jacksonville since 2020. Our patients and their families consistently rate us 5 stars on Google. We accept most major insurance plans including Medicare. See what our families say — then come see the facility and our therapy pools for yourself. Visit our homepage to learn more about everything we offer.

If land-based therapy is too painful or too slow, aquatic therapy may be the missing piece. Call us to schedule an evaluation and see our therapy pools in person. Tours are free and available seven days a week. We serve patients from Arlington, University Park, Springfield, San Marco, Riverside, Mandarin, Orange Park, Regency, Downtown Jacksonville, and the Beaches communities.

Dolphin Pointe Health Care
5355 Dolphin Point Blvd, Jacksonville, FL 32211
Phone: 904-914-8801
Open 24 Hours