the aquatic therapist

How to report a bad working environment in the therapy pool setting

How does one go about reporting a bad working environment (e.g. poor environmental conditions and/or poor pool maintenance) in a therapy pool?

Per the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s (OSHA) Compliance Guidance Office, PT’s and PTA's practicing in states that have established their own occupational safety and health plan would file complaints through the state. 

This link will take you to information about State Occupational Safety and Health Plans.  This Web page provides links for the states that have established their own occupational safety and health administration.   

In states that have not established their own occupational safety and health plan, PT’s and PTA's would file complaints through the Federal OSHA by going to www.osha.gov, select the link for “Audiences” located on the left side of the page, then click on "Workers", then "Filing a complaint".

More tips for aquatic therapists from the Aquatic PT Section of the APTA here.

Taking the Medically Fragile Child into the Therapy Pool

Many therapists blanch at the idea of taking a medically fragile child into the water. It feels dangerous; what's more, many pools forbid it.

But let's step back and consider it for a minute. Think of all the "dangerous" things you were allowed to do as a child. Today's disabled children are treated as breakable (which is understandable), but this prevents many parents from allowing their child freedoms and experiences which are normal to childhood.

What's more, what if the medically fragile child would benefit from the act of immersion, stretching and exercise as much -- if not more than -- her healthy peer?

Watch this slideshow to experience the journey one child named Sophie takes into aquatic therapy (FYI: every other slide is the English translation). Slide #10, #15, #22 show photos of Sophie during a 2-person aquatic intervention.

We've gone audio! Listen to The Aquatic Therapist Blog

We've gone audio! You can now listen to The Aquatic Therapist blog instead of reading it.

See the little "listen now" emblem below each post title?

Click it, close your eyes and listen to our fabulous information. The reader is a little flat in his intonation, but hey! I think it adds a degree of mystery (wondering which word he's going to mangle next).

It's all done digitally -- there is no real person reading anymore, just the computer.

Man, have we come far. I remember when I was in high school, I used to go to the community center and read textbooks for a program called Reading for the Blind.

I used to stumble over words right and left - just from the pressure of reading into a taperecorder.

Well, I tell you, this Odiogo computer has me beat!

More on podcast options later...

Consider adding flotation therapy to your aquatic interventions

Looking for a new aquatic therapy adventure?

Consider flotation therapy.

What is floating?

“floating is a method of attaining the deepest rest that humankind has ever experienced.”

Essentially, it’s spending an hour or so lying quietly in the dark, suspended in a warm solution of Epsom salt, about 10" deep, and so dense that you float effortlessly.

Often gentle music is played to help you relax. In short; it’s complete mental and physical relaxation.

Tank pictured above is available here.

Otherwise, check out this  Internet Directory of Float Centers.

ADDENDUM: Here is a list of UK float centers as well.

Search for aquatic therapy pool by location (city, state, zip code)

Looking for a therapy pool for yourself, a family member or a patient?

Here are 3 fabulous places to start looking:

Findapool.com (can search by zip code, area code; almost exclusively warm water therapeutic pools)

National Center on Physical Activity and Disability (can search by city; almost exclusively pools that are available to individuals with disabilities; not necessarily warm water pools)

Swimming Pool Guide (can search by country, state, city -- note: these are predominately swimming pools not therapy pools)

Texas A&M study examines effectiveness of HydroWorx therapy pools

Middletown, PA August 15, 2007 -- A recent Texas A&M University study shows that running on a HydroWorx underwater treadmill not only improves overall health, but can be more effective than running on traditional land-based treadmills.

The study focused on the effectiveness of HydroWorx aquatic therapy for exercise, rehabilitation and weight loss.

A team of Texas A&M University scientists compared land-based treadmill exercise to HydroWorx pool exercise in two separate experiments.

Thirty-two overweight adults all over 40 years of age took part in the study, which lasted three months.

The studies resulted in several important findings. The scientists discovered that HydroWorx underwater treadmill exercise burns more calories per minute than land treadmill exercise when walking or jogging at 4mph or above (jets at 50% or above).

It was also found that subjects using the HydroWorx underwater treadmill gained more lean muscle mass than those using the land treadmill (jets above 50%).

Subjects also lost more body fat percent using the HydroWorx pool than with the land treadmill. Four out of five subjects participating in the study preferred exercising in the HydroWorx pool over land-based treadmill running.

Read more here.

Brought to you by Aquaticnet, The Aquatic Therapy Command Center

How long is too long in the pool for therapists?

There do not appear to be any federal, state, city or OSHA guidelines for establishing maximum duration an employee should spend in the water.

In the absence of this, ATRI has made the following recommendations:

Immersion time for practitioners depends on the situation and the individual. Water temperature, and water and air chemistry, as well as personal medical status are factors determining immersion time. Current recommendation is: Maximum of 4 continuous hours per day in an enclosed area.

Although I agree to the general principle of reducing hours in the water, instead, I would advocate that individuals do not consistently spend more than 20-25 hours per week in the pool.

For instance,

• You might work M, W, F 100% in the pool. If you do, I suggest an hour for lunch and additional paperwork time be set aside. Your total in-pool time might be closer to  6-7 hours than a true 8 hour day.

• Or, you might work 4-5 afternoons per week in the pool (I'm here to tell you that gets old fast!). Typically, 1/2 day shifts in the water work better as 2-3x/week options, not daily fare.

• Or you might work a 30-40 hour work week in the pool (to fill in for an absent colleague) very occasionally. And your next work week would be light on pool time.
   

Time in water should depend on three factors:

1. The desire of the employee. You should never "make" someone work in the water, period. If your employee is willing to work in the water, count yourself blessed (If the employee is unreasonable, you may need a different employee, but that is another matter).

2. The needs of the employer. Instead of forcing people to work longer hours in the water, the employer should consider hiring new aquatic staff as part-timers.

Instead of hiring a full-time PT for the pool and then trying to find creative ways to allow that person out-of-pool time, hire a .6-.8 full-time equivalent. That way the person can come to work in sweats and a swimsuit -- and leave the same way. They can set their own schedule. They have the flexibility to be 100% aquatic and yet, you do not have to worry about over exposure to immersion and chemicals. 

3. The water quality of the pool. If a facility does not invest in creating a pool with good water quality, the end result is the loss of employees. The employees are the first to notice problems. Facilities must listen when staff complains... or soon there will be no staff around to complain.

More on this for Aquatic Resources Network members at www.aquaticnet.com

Where to read the full research article for free once you have the citation

You can read aquatic therapy abstracts at www.aquaticnet.com/refshare.htm (some access to general public; full access to members), but once you get the citation, where can you get the full article online?

Here is one source:

FreeFullText.com provides direct links to over 7000 scholarly periodicals which allow some or all of their online content to be viewed by ANYONE with Internet access for free (though some may require free registration).

The issue(s) which are available for free are indicated for each title on the alphabetical periodical lists. The design of this site is optimized for users seeking specific articles for which they already have the citation.

If some of the articles you need are not available for free online, you may obtain them for a fee through a document delivery service, such as Pinpoint Documents.

This site does not attempt to list ALL periodicals on the Internet, only those which offer free full-text content.

Research about Watsu and fibromyalgia

Here is one (of many) research abstracts available at www.aquaticnet.com/refshare.htm which show the power of aquatic therapy.

Kieren Faull. A pilot study of the comparative effectiveness of two water-based treatments for fibromyalgia syndrome: Watsu and Aix massage. Journal of Bodywork and Movement Therapies. 2005; 9(3): 202-210.

Objective: To evaluate the effectiveness on health outcomes of a proposed holistic therapy (Watsu, WATer shiatSU) as a possible intervention for people with fibromyalgia syndrome (FMS) by comparing its effectiveness with the present water-based therapy, Aix massage.

Methods: Thirteen females diagnosed with FMS completed Watsuand Aix treatments. Short-Form-36 General Health Survey (SF-36) data were collected at the start and completion of treatment in a two-condition, within-subject, reverse-order counterbalanced design. Each SF-36 subscale was tested with a two-way, repeated measure analysis of variance.

Results: Significant change in treatment and interaction effects were found for Watsu on the SF-36 subscales of physical function, bodily pain, vitality and social function, but not for Aix treatment.

Conclusions: Watsu was supported as an effective holistic intervention compared to Aix massage. Variables other than Watsu may have caused the significant result. A study with a larger sample and a control group is required before it can be inferred that the change is due to this therapy.

Corresponding author. Tel.: +6473480189x877; fax: +6473431660. QE Health, P.O. Box 1342, Rotorua, New Zealand. Received 26 August 2004; revised 29 November 2004; accepted 2 December 2004. Available online 23 March 2005.

Watsu for children

Fun read on what's being done with children in the water

"The night
you tell us
you watsu the blind child
and the deaf
and sing to them
I watsu you
to the song of the wind
in still water."