Healing waters: Therapy for Gaza's wounded

Hydrotherapy relieves stress on the joints by decreasing joint compression forces and helps reduce swelling around the injured area. The warm water also allows increased movement, promotes relaxation of the muscles and relieves pain.

by Mohammed Asad

Dozens of injured Palestinians head to the pool at the Prince Hamad Hospital each week to take part in water therapy. The patients, injured as a result of anything from car accidents to wars, take part in hydrotherapy in an effort to improve their mobility and strengthen their muscles.

Mohamed Murtaji, the head of the physiotherapy department in the hospital, says: “We have had trained specialists from abroad who have taught the medical staff here how to provide hydrotherapy as this speeds up the response in treatment by the patient.”

Hydrotherapy relieves stress on the joints by decreasing joint compression forces and helps reduce swelling around the injured area. The warm water also allows increased movement, promotes relaxation of the muscles and relieves pain.

Mohamed says: “The presence of water helps me facilitate movement for the injured, and helps them gain confidence in their ability and strength.”Hydrotherapy was used by Ancient Greeks to treat psychological stress as well.

Dozens of injured Palestinians head to the pool at the Prince Hamad Hospital each week to take part in water therapy, on 6 November 2022 [Mohammed Asad/Middle East Monitor]

READ: Palestinians injured by Israeli settlers in occupied West Bank

Unless otherwise stated in the article above, this work by Middle East Monitor is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. If the image(s) bear our credit, this license also applies to them. What does that mean? For other permissions, please contact us.