Jumping into aquatic physio - an introductory lecture

I had great fun presenting in a panel alongside excellent colleagues in this lecture evening, aimed at physios new to aquatic physiotherapy.

Image description: The panel included from left to right: Shayna Gavin, APA host, Ross Piper, Krista Vestraelen, Julia Truong, Catherine Barber, Bronwyn McIlveen and Natania Huff.

We each prepared answers to questions asked by physios moving into aquatics. I spoke about :

• what is aquatic physio, and how is it different to hydrotherapy?

• what is the difference between doing physio on land vs in the water?

• what patient populations can aquatic physio be useful in?

• what are some examples of aquatic physio treatment from your clinical area? For this I used a video from our January 2022 aquatic intensives

Here's a photo of us of us chatting on the night:

It was a wonderful chance to catch up with such experienced colleagues, and also to hear what questions are on the minds of physios moving into the specialty area of aquatics.

Shayna Gavin is a physiotherapist who is passionate about helping babies, children and young people learn functional skills so they can participate in life at home, school and in their community. Recognising that children do best in their own environments, she visits homes, schools, and leisure activities from football fields to ballet classes. She also has daily aquatic physiotherapy sessions available at two private swimming schools in Moonee Ponds and Greensborough, Melbourne. She combines principles of paediatric physiotherapy, Contemporary Neuro Developmental Treatment, motor learning, and swimming teaching to address the individual needs of each child and their family. She loves providing professional development to physiotherapists, allied health and education professionals, allied health assistants and swimming teachers.