New aquatic research and health benefits highlight 10th WAHC

by MODE, ignore | November 28, 2013 4:27 pm

The 2013 World Aquatic Health Conference™ (WAHC™) and Aquatic Physical Therapy Summit once again drew a diverse crowd, attracting nearly 400 representatives of the aquatics community from eight countries.According to organizers, the global research forum, which was held in Indianapolis, Ind., saw visitors from the U.S., Canada, Australia, Mexico, Finland, Poland, Puerto Rico, and the Ukraine.

This year’s event was highlighted by two keynotes, one presented by Debbie Phelps (mother of Michael Phelps) who kicked off the conference by sharing an intimate story of how water has been a safe haven and comforted her swimming children for more than two decades, and the other by Edward Papke, a globally recognized expert in organizational culture, leadership, and influencing change, on how to effect behaviour change.

Global water recreation and therapy experts were also able to select from more than 50 seminars on topics ranging from recreational water illness (RWI) prevention, disinfection byproducts, facility management, drowning prevention, health benefits, and natural and new industrial technology.

A scientific poster session, a tour of three aquatic facilities with the designers and facility staff, lunch round tables, an aquatic art show, and tabletop displays presented by non-profit organizations and conference sponsors filled out the event.

“Year after year, really smart people comeback to learn from and network with other really smart people,” said the National Swimming Pool Foundation’s (NSPF’s) CEO, Thomas M. Lachocki, PhD. “It’s amazing when you see peoples faces after the ‘light bulb’ goes off; you know they have been inspired to reflect what they learned to others.”

Other WAHC highlights included presentations by Dr. Joel Stager, professor of kinesiology,  Indiana University, who shared his research which focused on the ‘fountain of youth’ aspect of swimming; Ernest R. ‘Chip’ Blatchley III, PhD, BCEE, Purdue University and Judy LaKind, PhD, LaKind Associates, explained the science affecting water and air quality and people’s health from urine and pool water; Bill Waller, MSc, a PhD candidate with University of Jyvaskyla, Finland, provided a synopsis of the most significant new findings and developments in aquatic therapy that were presented at the European Conference on Evidence Based Aquatic Therapy, (ECEBAT) Turkey in March 2013; Stephanie Butler Velegol, PhD, Penn State University,  presented research on the use of Moringa oleifera seeds for sustainable water treatment; and Michael J. Unhoch, technology manager for Lonza Global Water Applications Technology Group, presented important factors that impact treatment and pool closure.

The 2014 WAHC will be held October 8 to 10 in Portland Ore. For more information, contact conference@nspf.org.[1]

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