The Open Door Centre –Therapeutic Swimming

The Hellenic Spastics Protection Society started in 1990 one of the first therapeutic swimming programs in Greece.

With our facility at the Open Door Center and following the systematic preparation and training of three Halliwick instructors and a lifeguard assistant, we started in 2008 again to offer people with cerebral palsy this program in the indoor pool of our Center.

Therapeutic swimming offers a combination of kinesiotherapy, physiotherapy, sensory integration and entertainment. Inside the water the muscular system is activated with great intensity, helping people with spasticity to perform movements that would not be able to perform them out of the water. The therapeutic effect of water provides sensory-kinetic experiences and offers movement to the person who is not able to walk.

We also know that people with disabilities respond better to alternative activities beyond the narrow settings of the hospital. Therapeutic swimming helps children and adults:

  • to improve their reflexes;
  • to better control their movements, their balance and orientation;
  • to improve their respiratory function;
  • to adopt more normal attitudes and movements;
  • to relax, thus improving control of involuntary movements.

The Therapeutic Swimming Program team consists of the Swimming Pool Operation Manager, the Swimming Pool Program Manager, the trainer-therapists, the lifeguard and the assistants. More than 35 children and 35 adults with cerebral palsy participate annually in the program.

We would like to thank Piscines Ideales for helping us with the technical care and equipment of the pool, the Ministry of Transport for the pool equipment and MARFIN-EGNATIA BANK, which through the 2008 “Love” Radio Marathon  covered the program’s operating expenses for one year. We also thank Dimitrios & Blanch Lambropoulos Foundation, who, with their donation in 2015, partially covered the program’s operation.

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