Visit Kerry Becht, PT at work and odds are you'll find her in the pool. But before you can join her, you'll have to move aside a few dozen pieces of aquatic equipment.

Becht's aquatic therapy practice, Healing Hands, is located inside of a Lebanon, Tenn. health club. The health club is full of resistance bands, freeweights, and weight machines.

But Becht knows that what works on land almost never translates into the pool. And so, she slowly amasses aquatic floatation and resistance equipment to grow her practice.

So Which Equipment Do You Need?
Physical therapists like Becht stockpile their pools with aquatic equipment in order to best meet the needs of a diverse group of patients. Aquatic equipment can actually help clinicians perform specialty techniques that they could not perform without the equipment.

Below, you will find a list of three of the more popular specialty techniques along with a suggested list of aquatic equipment. The most relevant features of aquatic equipment have also been compared in chart format to help you decide what you want to buy -- and exactly where to find it.

Aquatic Task-Type Training Approach
The Task-Type Training Approach was first described as a way to teach functional activities to clients who had sustained a stroke. Over time, the Aquatic TTTA has evolved to include treatment of all patient disorders, particularly those involving neurologic dysfunction. Physical therapists and PTAs who use this technique often require support bars on the pool walls or similar stable structures for providing external stabilization. However, flotation devices such as floatation cuffs, dumbbells, or aquatic noodles can be substituted. Additionally, therapists use "functional" equipment, such as push carts, brooms, boxes and crates, and golf clubs in the pool to mimic land-based tasks in a gravity-offset environment.

Bad Ragaz Ring Method
The Bad Ragaz Ring Method is an aquatic therapy technique modeled after the principles and movement patterns of Knupfer exercises and Proprioceptive Neuromuscular Facilitation (PNF). Bad Ragaz is always performed in a hands-on manner by the provider. The client is instructed in a series of movement or relaxation patterns while supported at the head, waist, hands and/or feet by floatation devices (such as rings, buoys, collars, or belts). Bad Ragaz patterns are often performed with resistance provided by aquatic gloves, paddles, bells or boots.

Watsu
Watsu is a form of passive, aquatic therapy modeled after the principles of Zen Shiatsu. Watsu is always performed in a hands-on manner by the provider. The client is usually held or cradled in warm water while the provider stabilizes or moves one segment of the body, resulting in a stretch of another segment due to the drag effect. Watsu providers may need equipment like a cervical collar, floatation rings, and aquatic noodles in order to support patients who are too large to handle.

Disclaimer
The information presented in this article is meant to be a summary and educational in nature. It is not meant to serve as a substitute for legal advice.

Author Bio
Andrea Poteat Salzman, MS, PT is the owner of two businesses, the Aquatic Resources Network and Concepts in Physical Therapy. She has received both the prestiguous Aquatic Therapy Professional of the Year Award (Aquatic Therapy and Rehabilitation Institute) and the Tsunami Aquatic Therapy Award.

Salzman is well-regarded within the industry as:

• Editor-in-Chief of an aquatic therapy trade journal and newsletter;
• Author of over a dozen publications, including the soon-to-be-released Evidence-Based Aquatic Therapy textbook;
• Freelance author and columnist;
• Aquatic therapy seminar instructor;
• Adjunct faculty and research advisor, St. Catherine Physical Therapy Program, Minneapolis, MN;
• Immediate past manager of therapeutic aquatics, St. Paul Ramsey Medical Center, St. Paul, MN;
• Researcher and grant recipient examining aquatic exercise vs. land-based exercise.

She may be reached via e-mail at asalzman@aquaticnet.com