PULLMAN – Bruce Becker, an expert in the use of water therapy to treat injuries and promote well-being, is helping design a program to speed the recovery of wounded U.S. soldiers.
Becker is a physician and research professor who directs the National Aquatic & Sports Medicine Institute at WSU. He will share some of the institute’s research findings with U.S. Army doctors and therapists when he visits Fort Lewis, Wash., on Dec. 8 to help launch the Army’s Aquatic Rehabilitation Program.
“The Department of Defense anticipates that this program could extend to as many as 10,000 soldiers,” Becker said. “It will have two phases. In the first, soldiers will be helped to recover from the acute stage of their injuries. The second, longer phase will prepare them to return to active duty or civilian life.”
Becker became involved through his longtime colleague Mary Wykle, an aquatic therapist who convinced the Army to start the program. Wykle is married to a retired general and has worked with wounded soldiers at Walter Reed Army Hospital in Washington, D.C.
“Bruce has been supportive since the beginning of discussions of the project over a year ago,” Wykle said. “I came to him for advice on testing the cardiovascular fitness of soldiers in the water, and he came up with the 100 water-step test that is now part of the clinical outcomes we are collecting.
“He is the most recognized researcher and expert in aquatic therapy, and important in adding credibility to the program,” she said.
In addition to Fort Lewis, pilot sites for the Army’s program will be Fort Eustis and Fort Belvoir, both in Virginia.
While the program isn’t formally a research project, data will be gathered on the participants’ progress by location, gender, age, rank/grade and primary injury. Their progress also will be compared to soldiers in traditional rehabilitation programs. Becker foresees future WSU research will stem from the Army’s experiences.
Wykle noted that Becker has studied the effect of water temperature on the nervous, circulatory and cardiovascular systems. The calming effects of water therapy, she said, also may benefit soldiers with post-traumatic stress disorder and traumatic brain injury.
Becker recently was named one of the 25 most influential people in aquatics by Aquatics International magazine. His interest in aquatic therapy began in the 1980s, when he started working with elite athletes through the Nike Olympic Development Program.
Soldiers are like athletes, Wykle said. “We hope to show that, through aquatic rehabilitation, soldiers’ rate of return to function is faster, and that they can maintain or improve cardiovascular fitness with a decrease in pain.”
More information about the National Aquatics & Sports Medicine Institute is available at http://education.wsu.edu/research/nasmi/.
