Aquatic Physical Therapy International

Aquatic Physical Therapy International (APTI) - A network affiliated to WCPT

Welcome to the home of APTI - Aquatic Physical Therapy International.

Our Mission

To promote evidence based aquatic physical therapy around the world.

The objectives of APTI are to:

• Promote evidence based practice and clinical reasoning in aquatic physical therapy
• Collect information on best clinical practice, safety and hygiene standards
• Provide a forum to discuss clinical practice and management issues in aquatic physical therapy
• Promote collaborative research and facilitate communication on research topics and outcomes
• Support the development of aquatic physical therapy in low-resourced countries
• Promote and support the development of educational materials and professional development
• Liaise and collaborate with other groups of aquatic therapy professionals

Membership

Membership of APTI is free, and open to all physical therapists working in aquatic therapy who would like to become more informed about aquatic therapy, and would like to share their experiences.  Also physical therapy students with a clear interest in this area can apply.

Affiliated membership is open to aquatic professionals with other health related educational backgrounds.  APTI acknowledges that aquatic therapy is a field in which the expertise of other allied health - movement - professions and sciences is valuable, and would like to share that expertise.

You can apply for membership by sending an email with your name, country, professional background and field of expertise to Johan.lambeck@faber.kuleuven.be.  Through your membership you will be linked with colleagues who share the same background and interests, in your own country and abroad.

The network has the opportunity to meet face to face every four years at WCPT's international congress.  The next meeting will be in June 2011 in Amsterdam.

WCPT discussion forum

Please post your ideas and questions about the use of aquatic therapy in physical therapy on our discussion board on the WCPT forum.

The discussion forum includes many subjects that you can comment on or browse including:

• clinical practice questions and areas of special interest in aquatic physical therapy
• evidence based practice, research and professional development
• standards and guidelines (clinical and safety) in aquatic physical therapy
• information on different organisations and groups
• the opportunity to have some input into the direction and development of the Aquatic Physical Therapy International network

Publication possibilities

• International Journal of Aquatic Research and Education
• The Journal of Aquatic Physical Therapy produced by the APTA Aquatic Section (USA)
  • Archive list of publications
• Aqualines produced twice yearly by the CSP Aquatic Physiotherapy Group (UK)
• Newsplash produced twice yearly by the Australian Aquatic Group

Aquatic Therapy Forum: E-publication possibilities for colleagues who would like to present their work, but do not want to go through reviewing processes for formal journals.  The Aquatic Therapy Forum also includes poster presentations and PowerPoints.  For information contact Johan Lambeck.

Articles can also be posted to our discussion forum.

APTI plans to collate resources to further our objectives and will post them to the website when they are available.

Aquatic physical therapy groups and contacts

Individual contacts

International organisations

Medical advisor

Dr Bruce Becker MD, MS. Research Professor and Director, National Aquatics and Sports Medicine Institute, Washington State University, Clinical Professor, Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, University of Washington School of Medicine.

Questions for him can be addressed through the forum. The forum moderator will forward the question and post his reply.