Director of Aquatic Rehabilitation Consultants in The Netherlands and Senior Lecturer in – and co-founder of –the Association IATF (International Aquatic Therapy Faculty) in Valens, Switzerland

 

Water Specific Therapy
Water Specific Therapy (WST) – previously known as Halliwick-therapy – is THE aquatic therapy concept worldwide, included in more than 50 published research articles, see at https://www.halliwick.net/en/literature/articles .

WST covers virtually all neuromusculoskeletal ICF-goals including one of the most important topics in rehabilitation: from muscle strengthening, increasing range of motion, decreasing pain to postural control, core stability, agility and fall prevention. WST can be used to evoke subtle muscle contractions that are unable to generate on land. WST is applied from pediatrics to geriatrics and has been taught in over 50 countries.
It is an aquatic therapy with elements of the Halliwick 10 point-programme swimming method that are used as pretraining for exercises that use the fluidmechanical properties of water: flow conditions (turbulence), waves of transmission and metacentric effects (using the change of gravity and buoyancy induced torques). A clinical question in WST could be: “can metacentric effects be used to train central stability in an ataxic patient”?
WST was developed by a team of physiotherapists in Switzerland in the early seventies, supporting James McMillan in his efforts to develop Halliwick towards a “Halliwick-Therapy”. The development still continues, following contemporary issues in health care. Examples are executive functions, muscle power training or modifying neuroinflammation.
WST = motor learning in water to be used on land whereas Halliwick = motor learning in water to be used in water