SWIMMERS have been taking part in physio at a Barrow pool thanks to a virtual physiotherapist.

The ‘Good Boost’ programme is a training scheme designed to ‘coach’ people with long term health conditions such as osteoarthritis in water-based exercises.

Life Leisure is calling for pilot participants to help get the initiative off the ground.

The scheme will see users provided with a waterproof tablet and guided through a series of exercises tailored to their individual needs. Similar to circuits classes, participants will follow their own routine under the supervision of a member of staff.

The initiative builds on previous developments by Life Leisure to make the pool more accessible to all abilities, including the recent introduction of a ‘Pool Pod’ submersible lift.

Michelle Childs, Health Development Manager at Life Leisure said: “It’s really important to us as a service provider that we promote the health benefits of exercise no matter what your fitness or long-term condition.

“Aquatic activities provide a fantastic way to help people become more active and improve their health, especially those with musculoskeletal and joint conditions.

"By installing the Pool Pod and teaming up with Good Boost we hope to reach even more people who would benefit from supported exercise.”

In order to secure future funding for the Good Boost kit, Life Leisure is recruiting volunteers who suffer from joint problems such as osteoarthritis to take part in a pilot scheme.

Michelle explained: “Each user will be given their waterproof tablet to use in the pool. It will have their own profile and set of exercises and will ‘learn’ each time it is used in order to update the programme based on completed sessions. It’s really cool stuff!”

Good Boost is a social enterprise with a team of clinicians, researchers and engineers working to transform public pools into health and wellbeing hubs that deliver locally accessible and affordable aquatic rehabilitation.

Ben Wilkins, CEO of Good Boost, said: “Published medical research highlights the benefits of therapeutic aquatic exercise and rehabilitation for a wide range of joint and pain conditions, including osteoarthritis (arthritis), rheumatoid arthritis, non-specific pain and improving physical function.

“Good Boost's artificial intelligence powered software selects the most suitable exercises for a participant's condition, need, function and swimming ability (10% of Good Boost participants are non-swimmers, you don't need to swim to join in!).

“This is our first Cumbrian pool and we are really excited to work with Life Leisure and the team at Barrow to improve participants' pain, physical function and quality of life throughout 2020."

To take part in the initial six-week programme you must be available every Tuesday and Friday between midday and 2pm from the end of January. If you are interested in taking part contact Ross at Life Leisure Barrow Park on 01229 871146.