Walk the aisles of any Abilities Expo and you will see power chairs, hand controls, ramps and lifts. Good gear, all of it. Peter Hold brought something you have to dig a hole for.
I met Peter this past weekend at the first Orlando Abilities Expo, held October 9 through 11 at the Osceola Heritage Park Events Center in Kissimmee. His company, The Vertical Pool, builds a home aquatic therapy pool that stands most people upright in warm water, lets a caregiver help from outside the pool, and comes apart in pieces when you move. It is one of the smartest pieces of rehabilitation equipment I have seen in years, and almost nobody knows it exists.
That needs to change.
What The Vertical Pool Actually Is
Forget the image of a backyard swimming pool. The Vertical Pool is a compact, modular aquatic therapy device, classified by its maker as durable medical equipment, sized to the height, length and reach of the human body. About a third of it sits in the ground and two-thirds above it. The lower footwell holds roughly 275 of the pool’s 850 or so gallons.
The deep end holds about 5 feet 4 inches of water when nobody is in it, enough for most adults to hang upright without touching bottom. An adjustable, removable floor lets shorter users or weight-bearing exercisers stand. There are two seats at the entry end, an overhead bar, movable underwater grab bars and a hand-held jet massage wand on six feet of hose. The water stays between 88 and 92 degrees.
That temperature matters. A hot tub runs around 104 degrees, which is why spa makers usually recommend short soaks. The Vertical Pool runs cooler on purpose so people can stay in for long sessions of exercise, traction and stretching. Peter is blunt about it on his site: this is a recovery device, not a spa.
It also has no swim-against jets. That was a deliberate call. Current-generating pools demand coordination and can intimidate someone who is wounded, elderly or newly injured. Here, the user sets the pace.
The Man Behind It: Peter Hold
Peter Hold is a designer-builder by trade. He did not come out of the pool industry. He came at the problem from the other direction, thinking about the troops coming home hurt.
Years ago he told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser that he designed the pool with the wounded warrior in mind, and he summed up the whole philosophy in one line: “Everything works when you’re vertical, when you’re upright.” At that point roughly 40 pools were in use around the country, and word of mouth alone had brought him 17 requests from military members in three weeks.
Early on, Peter helped get the Aquatic Therapy Foundation off the ground, a nonprofit built around installing aquatic equipment at veterans’ homes at no cost to the veteran. He is no longer affiliated with it; another group runs it today. The problem it set out to solve has not changed. A lot of veterans live in small towns, nowhere near a VA hospital or an indoor therapy pool. That is the gap Peter has been trying to close for more than a decade.
Here is the part that surprised him. His biggest customer group turned out to be women: wives, mothers, grandmothers and women recovering from their own injuries. He calls it a dual mission. Veterans serving the country, women serving family and community.
Why Vertical Matters in Aquatic Therapy
On land, gravity works against anyone with a spinal cord injury, a stroke, an amputation or a body that just quit cooperating. In deep water, buoyancy takes most of that load off. Peter’s site notes that a buoyant person registers less than 20 percent of body weight on a scale while submerged.
Dr. Igor Burdenko, founder of the Burdenko Water and Sports Therapy Institute and a water therapist with more than 50 years in the field, wrote an endorsement for the pool. His argument is simple: the human body is built to function upright, and deep water is one of the only places an injured person can be upright without gravity fighting them. He cites research showing large gains in blood circulation during immersion and lists traction, decompression, pain relief and range of motion among the benefits. He called the pool “simply brilliant.”
One owner story makes the point better than any study. Aubri, who cannot stand on her own, got her pool in May 2014. Her family noticed something nobody planned for. When she is upright in the water, her diaphragm is not pressing up into her lungs the way it does in a chair, and she speaks with more volume and clarity.
What the research says
The broader science backs the direction. A 2018 review in the African Journal of Disability found that many people with spinal cord injuries live sedentary lives partly because land-based exercise gets tedious, and that water offers an environment that can keep them coming back. A 2024 study in Physiotherapy Research International looked at aquatic therapy’s effect on independence and mobility after spinal cord injury. And a 2025 randomized trial of 50 people with incomplete spinal cord injuries found the group that added aquatic therapy was nearly four times as likely to reach clinically meaningful balance gains.
Dr. Bruce Becker, founding director of the National Aquatic and Sports Medicine Institute at Washington State University, has pointed to studies showing cardiovascular, respiratory and circulatory benefits from aquatic exercise, along with better strength, balance and mood. And the VA itself uses aquatic therapy; many VA medical centers run pools or partner with local facilities, with programs reaching veterans dealing with both physical injuries and post-traumatic stress.
The research is not the question. Access is. Most people can only get to a therapy pool once or twice a week, if they can get there at all. A home aquatic therapy pool solves the part the research cannot.
Home Aquatic Therapy Pool Specs and Features
Here is what comes in the box, pulled from the official specifications page.
| Spec | The Vertical Pool |
|---|---|
| Outside dimensions | 9 ft 4 in long (plus 2 ft 8 in for steps) x 6 ft 2 in wide x 6 ft deep |
| Height above ground | 36 inches, the height of a kitchen counter |
| In-ground hole | 5 ft long x 3 ft wide x 3 ft deep |
| Water depth | About 5 ft 4 in unoccupied, up to 5 ft 7 in occupied |
| Water length | 8 ft 10 in end to end for horizontal work |
| Water volume | About 850 gallons (roughly 275 in the lower footwell) |
| Water temperature | 88 to 92 degrees |
| Max recommended user weight | 400 lbs |
| Dry weight | About 800 lbs, all components |
| Construction | 16 rotationally molded, foam-filled plastic parts, stainless straps |
| Equipment | 5 kW titanium heater, 1 HP two-speed pump, 50 sq ft canister filter, dual skimmers, multicolor light |
| Power | 110V 20A GFCI works; 220V recommended |
| Cover | 3-piece lockable insulated cover, R-10 to R-12 |
| Colors | Gray, sand or two-tone |
| Warranty | 1 year, all parts and components |
Benefits of a Home Aquatic Therapy Pool
Therapy on your schedule, not the clinic’s
Molly Hale has lived with a spinal cord injury since 1995. For years her pool time meant driving to distant public facilities. Now she rolls out her back door. In her words, the pool “has changed my world.” She exercises, floats, and dances upright in the water with her partner, Jeramy. That is not a sentence most people with a spinal cord injury get to say.
Sabrina Coryell, a Honolulu owner, told the Star-Advertiser that typical hydrotherapy sessions were running her about $75 an hour, once a week, plus the drive and a spouse along to help. At that rate, the price of a new pool covers roughly 190 sessions, under four years of once-a-week visits. The pool is there every day.
Help from the outside
Because the rim sits at counter height, a spouse, parent or therapist can reach in and help without getting wet. The pool works with standard patient lifts like a Hoyer from either side. For families caring for someone with limited mobility, that is a big deal.
Hygiene and skin health
This is the benefit nobody talks about at dinner but every caregiver understands. Plenty of disabled, wounded and elderly people cannot safely use a standard tub or shower. Daily soaks in warm, filtered, sanitized water can help with hygiene and may reduce skin problems such as pressure sores, according to the company. Michael Murray, president of the APTA Academy of Aquatic Physical Therapy, has published research on aquatic therapy improving daily living tasks including personal care and hygiene.
Private water, not shared water
The water belongs to one person. No public pool schedule, no strangers, no shared bacteria, and swimsuits are optional. For a veteran dealing with post-traumatic stress, a quiet pool at home with no crowd noise is a different experience from a busy community natatorium.
Upright, horizontal or seated
An optional support frame called the Swimhorse ($400) holds a user horizontally so they can swim in place without fear of sinking. The overhead bar handles pull-ups and suspended work. The seats handle seated movement and rest.
It moves when you move
Every part can be carried through a doorway, up stairs or around a house. The whole pool fits in the bed of one pickup truck. It installs indoors or out, in basements, garages, on patios and even hillsides. Assembly takes about six hours. One pool now in Tennessee has been installed in eight different locations over 15 years. Try doing that with a gunite pool.
Cheap to run
About 850 gallons, an insulated shell and an insulated cover mean low water and energy use. In temperate climates it can run off a standard 110V GFCI outlet, though Peter recommends 220V.
Even the dogs approve
Canine rehab centers have used the pool too, including Wag Wellness in Bothell, Washington, and the first Hawaii install in Waimanalo was for dog therapy. A Corgi named Jordan is apparently famous for his swan dive.
Real Owners, Real Results
The testimonials page reads like a thank-you card collection. Carol Prudic says she spends a couple of hours a day in the pool and is moving in ways she has not in years. A grandmother in South Carolina says her granddaughter has more freedom in the pool than anywhere else in her day. A Texas owner suggested renaming it “The Miracle Pool.” Sabrina Coryell in Hawaii nicknamed hers “Tug” because it looked like a little tugboat washed up on her lanai.
Watch Molly and Jeramy in their pool:
What This Home Aquatic Therapy Pool Costs and How Buying Works
Peter publishes his prices, which is rarer in this industry than it should be.
- New: $14,400, delivered and installed in the continental U.S.
- Demo unit: $12,400 when in stock
- Swimhorse frame: $400 optional
- Grants and referrals: ask about in-house grants and referral fees
Payment is split into four 25 percent installments: one to reserve a pool and receive placement templates, one to lock a delivery date, one at delivery and one when installation is complete. The homeowner is responsible for digging the 5 by 3 by 3 foot hole for the lower tub and sending a photo of the template in place before a delivery date is set.
Plan for lead time. Peter has been building, delivering and installing these largely on his own, which he says limits him to about five pools every two to three months.
The Honest Fine Print
No product fits everyone, and Peter is upfront about the limits.
- Entry: the top step sits 18 inches below the rim. If a user cannot lift their legs over that height with the railing, or pivot in from the side wall, a patient lift is needed and is not included.
- Climate: it is not meant to sit outdoors through winter without an enclosure. A roof or shade cover is recommended anywhere.
- Keep it full: draining it for long stretches can make the liner brittle.
- Moving it: each reinstall needs a new liner and filter canister.
- Medical guidance: the company itself says most patients need ongoing direction from doctors and therapists. Talk to yours before starting any aquatic program.
Bigger Than a Pool: The Mission
Peter’s long-term vision is the part that got me. He believes recovery equipment like this should be standard issue for every service member who comes home wounded or injured, activated with a simple VA doctor’s prescription instead of a stack of paperwork and months of waiting. That is not current VA policy. It is his goal.
He also wants to hand the whole operation, including molds, tooling and inventory that are already paid off, to veterans and women who would own it outright and run the manufacturing, sales, delivery and installation themselves. Civilian sales would help fund pools for veterans. He would stay on as a mentor.
Two concepts are on the drawing board. The Portapool mounts the pool on a heavy-duty trailer with fold-down decks and a patient crane, aimed at renters and short-term trauma recovery. The V-Clinic imagines a dozen individual pools arranged in a circle around a rotating instructor podium, so groups of veterans or patients with similar conditions can train together while each stays in their own water.
Why More Homes Should Have One
Here is the case, plain. If someone in your house is recovering from a spinal cord injury, an amputation, a stroke, a joint replacement, chronic back pain or the slow grind of aging, the best rehab environment science has found is warm water. The problem has never been the therapy. It has been getting there.
The Vertical Pool takes the drive, the schedule and the crowd out of the equation and puts a home aquatic therapy pool where the patient already is. It costs less than many hot tubs, uses a fraction of the water of a swimming pool, lets the caregiver help without getting in, and goes with you when you move. It was built by one determined designer with wounded warriors in mind, and it has been quietly changing lives for more than a decade on word of mouth alone.
We build legacies here. This is one worth knowing about.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much does The Vertical Pool home aquatic therapy pool cost?
A new pool is $14,400 delivered and installed in the continental U.S. Demo units run $12,400 when available. The optional Swimhorse frame is $400.
Is The Vertical Pool a hot tub?
No. It runs at 88 to 92 degrees for long exercise and therapy sessions. Hot tubs run near 104 degrees and are meant for short soaks.
Can someone in a wheelchair use it?
Yes, with a patient lift such as a Hoyer, which can be used from either side. Lifts are sold separately through medical equipment suppliers.
Can it be installed indoors?
Yes. It installs indoors or outdoors, including basements, garages, patios and uneven ground. Concrete slabs can be cut for the lower tub.
Can I take it with me if I move?
Yes. It disassembles into modular parts that fit in a pickup bed. Each reinstall needs a new liner and filter canister.
How do I contact The Vertical Pool?
Call 928-300-9800, email theverticalpool@gmail.com, or visit theverticalpool.com.
Contact The Vertical Pool
Phone: 928-300-9800
Email: theverticalpool@gmail.com
Web: theverticalpool.com
Facebook: The Vertical Pool
This article is for general information and is not medical advice. Talk with your physician or physical therapist before beginning any aquatic therapy program. Photos courtesy of The Vertical Pool, used with the owner’s permission.
Rocci J. Stucci is the founder of Stucci Media and host of The Rocci Stucci Show.
