In brief: * If you're looking for irrefutable scientific evidence to support your aquatic therapy (alternative or otherwise): you might struggle. * If you can see beyond the model to the person and the need: you might be able to keep the faith. * If you just know that immersion in warm water is beneficial: jump in, read these posts, and share your thoughts below.
I have found it useful to make a differentiation between aquatic healing (non-medical) and aquatic therapy (medical), where healing refers to the restoration of health or overall well-being, which may or may not make use of medical modalities. Aquatic healing may go beyond the physical (concerning itself with emotional and spiritual dimensions too) while clinical aquatic therapy usually does not.
Still, whatever we call what we do, therapy or healing (or even leisure), the impulse behind it is both to bring relief to those who are suffering and to enhance our mutual enjoyment of life. In the end, it is not possible nor universally effective to reduce our sense of what it is to be fully human - in sickness or in health - to any kind of model.
This blog, including the posts listed below (with extracts to entice you to further reading), is aimed primarily at aquatics practitioners of modalities such as Watsu and Ai Chi working in private or spa settings who are interested in sharing and promoting the positive effects of their work. For more on these forms of aquatic bodywork, which I reluctantly refer to as alternative aquatics* see also:
* By Alternative Aquatics I mean any water-based healing modality that involves movement and/or bodywork but that is not generally considered suitable without modification for clinical settings or medical billing.
The series of nine posts I have gathered together here for your convenience, explores the differences between the approaches and outcomes of alternative aquatic practices and those practices with scientific clinical focus. I believe it is valuable for both groups to acknowledge each other and to value the contribution each makes to health and healing.
Click on the underlined titles below to read more.
Building a body of evidence for aquatic bodywork
Where does aquatic bodywork stand in wellbeing, healing and medical arenas? With evidence-based medicine becoming a buzz word of increasingly signficant regulatory influence in the spa world and in integrative health practices, it's helpful to know what David Sackett et. al. had to say in the British Medical Journal back in 1996. Read more ...
Do you keep records of your alternative aquatics sessions?
In addition to clinical applications, aquatic movement and bodywork practices are now an innovative part of spa-leisure and alternative health services. Can we learn from the experience of aquatics practitioners in these different settings? Will we accept that aquatic physical therapists and aquatic bodyworkers have a shared goal of more effective treatment and greater health benefit to their clients? Read more...
Alternative aquatics research
This post calls attention to aspects of aquatic therapeutic bodywork that are based on principles that don't easily fit the current medical model, including what is widely known as evidence-based research. I'd like to see much more reporting of results from alternative aquatics practices that are independent of clinical centers, as well as from practices that are being applied as complementary to other medical interventions.Read more ...
What kind of evidence are we looking for in aquatic therapy?
I'm hoping to encourage dialog between medical and alternative aquatics practitioners regards the ways in which both could better serve those in need. We need more critical (but not defensive) discussion. In future posts, I'll continue to write about how and why it's going to be valuable to do this. We also need to listen far more to those who are suffering and seeking help through aquatic therapies. Read more ...
In addition to clinical applications, aquatic movement and bodywork practices are now an innovative part of spa-leisure and alternative health services. Can we learn from the experience of aquatics practitioners in these different settings? Will we accept that aquatic physical therapists and aquatic bodyworkers have a shared goal of more effective treatment and greater health benefit to their clients? Read more...
Alternative aquatics research
This post calls attention to aspects of aquatic therapeutic bodywork that are based on principles that don't easily fit the current medical model, including what is widely known as evidence-based research. I'd like to see much more reporting of results from alternative aquatics practices that are independent of clinical centers, as well as from practices that are being applied as complementary to other medical interventions.Read more ...
What kind of evidence are we looking for in aquatic therapy?
I'm hoping to encourage dialog between medical and alternative aquatics practitioners regards the ways in which both could better serve those in need. We need more critical (but not defensive) discussion. In future posts, I'll continue to write about how and why it's going to be valuable to do this. We also need to listen far more to those who are suffering and seeking help through aquatic therapies. Read more ...
Outlines of lecture and workshop presentations given by Sara Firman at the ATRI National Aquatic Healthcare Conference, Nov. 2009 in Chicago, US. Included: samples and other downloads of the information presented: an invitation to host a similar workshop at your own venue. Read more ...
What does it take to demonstrate the value of aquatic therapies?
People have been 'taking the waters' since ancient times. In fact, many so-called complementary and alternative (CAM) treatments, including water-based ones, have been practiced for a long time. A prevailing view is that, without scientific evidence, people using such treatments could be at risk or using treatments that are ineffective. Read more ...
Is immersion in warm water beneficial?
If a recent review of relevant international scientific literature is anything to go by, evidence-based research demonstrating the effectiveness of aquatic therapy is thin on the ground and not that encouraging. Despite an increasing drive for evidence-based therapy, gaining scientific validity for aquatic modalities in clinics or in spas is not likely to be easy. Read more ...
Keeping a balanced perspective in aquatics: Ai Chi as an example
I am not convinced that scientific research can do justice to all aquatic therapies, nor fairly serve the people who are benefiting from those therapies and those who are facilitating this. We need a far more broad-minded, inclusive, way of demonstrating the value of aquatic therapies and promoting their applications...An example of personal reports of benefits from Ai Chi. Read more ...
For some earlier posts on aspects of alternative aquatic bodywork that present challenges to current scientific methodology see also:
How to investigate aquatic altered states of consciousness
Altering a person's state of consciousness positively, restoring to vibrancy the subtle energy field around the human body, relieving someone of an adverse psychosomatic reaction - all these lack widely accepted conceptual frameworks and study models. They present problems of definition, measurement, reproducibility, evaluation, and so on. However, there are precedents. Some are offered later in this post.
Aquatic bodywork as a form of somatic psychotherapy
In bringing submerged pain to the surface and revealing ways to go with the flow, water provides a perfect medium and metaphor....The changes that occur will be unique to each person. It may not always be possible, necessary or valuable to know exactly how something has happened, or why, or even what caused it in the first place. Physical and psychological problems, from back pain to anxiety and so on, may simply and mysteriously float away....Of course, this presents problems when we wish to make a case for the value of this work in treating very specific problems - evidence-based therapy.
........................................................................................................................................................
These posts are designed to be just a bit thought-provoking or provocative! I welcome your comment on anything you see on this weblog. You can also email me directly (see left-hand column) or add your thoughts below any post.
What does it take to demonstrate the value of aquatic therapies?
People have been 'taking the waters' since ancient times. In fact, many so-called complementary and alternative (CAM) treatments, including water-based ones, have been practiced for a long time. A prevailing view is that, without scientific evidence, people using such treatments could be at risk or using treatments that are ineffective. Read more ...
Is immersion in warm water beneficial?
If a recent review of relevant international scientific literature is anything to go by, evidence-based research demonstrating the effectiveness of aquatic therapy is thin on the ground and not that encouraging. Despite an increasing drive for evidence-based therapy, gaining scientific validity for aquatic modalities in clinics or in spas is not likely to be easy. Read more ...
Keeping a balanced perspective in aquatics: Ai Chi as an example
I am not convinced that scientific research can do justice to all aquatic therapies, nor fairly serve the people who are benefiting from those therapies and those who are facilitating this. We need a far more broad-minded, inclusive, way of demonstrating the value of aquatic therapies and promoting their applications...An example of personal reports of benefits from Ai Chi. Read more ...
For some earlier posts on aspects of alternative aquatic bodywork that present challenges to current scientific methodology see also:
How to investigate aquatic altered states of consciousness
Altering a person's state of consciousness positively, restoring to vibrancy the subtle energy field around the human body, relieving someone of an adverse psychosomatic reaction - all these lack widely accepted conceptual frameworks and study models. They present problems of definition, measurement, reproducibility, evaluation, and so on. However, there are precedents. Some are offered later in this post.
Aquatic bodywork as a form of somatic psychotherapy
In bringing submerged pain to the surface and revealing ways to go with the flow, water provides a perfect medium and metaphor....The changes that occur will be unique to each person. It may not always be possible, necessary or valuable to know exactly how something has happened, or why, or even what caused it in the first place. Physical and psychological problems, from back pain to anxiety and so on, may simply and mysteriously float away....Of course, this presents problems when we wish to make a case for the value of this work in treating very specific problems - evidence-based therapy.
........................................................................................................................................................
These posts are designed to be just a bit thought-provoking or provocative! I welcome your comment on anything you see on this weblog. You can also email me directly (see left-hand column) or add your thoughts below any post.
Water is the mist, the fog, the storm that leads us to the place where we may meet our Selves.
