O

NE DAY last summer, Harry Holland decided to take his wife and three small children for a ride on Lake Golden just outside of town. A friend had given him permission to use his new row boat.

The family was thrilled. They packed sandwiches, fishing lines, and a lot of other things in the small boat. Harry started the motor and they were off to the center of the lake. They managed to get over a school of white perch and soon were pulling in fish as fast as they could bait the line. It was real fun. After a while, everyone was standing in the boat. It was easier to pull in the fish that way.

Little Tommy, excited, leaned over too far. Suddenly he toppled into the water. The others all reached over to try to grab him. The boat tipped. It was seven hours later when the last of the bodies was recovered.

Neither Harry, his wife, or any of the children knew how to swim. If they had, it might have been a different story. Harry had never heard of small craft safety or he would have taken precautions not to overload the boat. Certainly, he would not have permitted anyone to stand in the boat.

It took less than two minutes for the Holland family to stop living.

by EDWARD W. PASTORE

Boys' Clubs of America

381 Fourth Ave., New York 16, N. Y.

WHY LIVES ARE LOST

Louise Gorman, 14 years of age, was swimming in the bay with several girl friends. The others didn't know how to swim too well, so they stayed close to shore. But Louise had had two lessons from her father. She had to show the others she was a "good swimmer." She paddled out about 20 feet from shore.

When Louise yelled for help, none dared go out. They knew they couldn't help her. John Marchione was sitting in his car on the road watching the swimmers. When he heard the call for help, he jumped out of the car, kicked off his shoes, and plunged into the water.

He reached the frantic Louise and tried to hold her up. But the excited girl wrapped her arms around his neck, choking him. They both went. under. The two were fished out in a short time, but both were dead.

If Louise had really learned to swim, or if John had had a chance to learn lifesaving the story might have had a different ending.

When a Connecticut town was hit by flood last year, in the middle of the night, raging water, ten feet deep, gushed down one of the side streets.

George Putnam, who had learned to swim when he was a boy, kept his

head and managed to get his family up on the hillside to safety. His neighbor, Mark Hillary, had never learned to swim. In fact he had always feared water. When the rising river began to seep into his living room, he got excited. He and his wife frantically rushed out into the street, yelling for help. The swift current swept them off their feet. They struggled, but didn't know how to keep their heads above water, or how to swim over to the side and reach safety. They were listed among the many drowned that day.

The Hollands, the Hillarys, Louise Gorman, and John Marchione are typical of the close to 7,000 persons that drown needlessly each year. In addition, there are over 300,000 persons that have accidents on or in the water, but manage to come out alive each year.

NATIONAL SAFETY MEASURES

The situation might be much worse if it were not for the continual programs of water safety education and training which many organizations have been carrying on for years Prominent among these are th American National Red Cross, the YMCA's and YWCA's, the Boys Clubs of America, Boy Scouts of (Concluded on pages 30-31)

Prevent wall crash accidents in gyms and class rooms!

Medart

Laboratory Training in Underwater Exercises

Major students gain practical experience in adapted swimming and physical education program for the physically handicapped

by CLAUDE J. RUGGIAN, R.P.T.
Adelphi College, Garden City, New York

Photos by Wendell Kilmer, Hempstead, N. Y.

Children's group doing exercises in the pool, assisted by undergraduate students.

T ADELPHI COLLEGE, physi

AT

cal education major students are learning to work with the physically handicapped in the water. As the notebooks close on their lecture in Physical Education for Atypical Children and Susie's chart is put away, the class reports to the swimming pool where Susie is just removing her braces. Susie is no longer a statistic in a textbook but a young girl, five years old, who has lost the use of both lower extremities up to her hips and the partial use of her left arm through an attack of polio. But Susie is not alone-along the edge of the pool 15 other children eagerly await their "teacher." In a few minutes the splash and squealing will belie the braces and crutches strewn on the bleachers.

The lack of physical education teachers adequately prepared to work with the physically handicapped and the crying need of an expanded community for underwater therapy and recreation for its victims of infantile paralysis and cerebral palsy have both found a solution through the efforts of the swimming program established at Adelphi.

HOW PROGRAM EVOLVED

Nassau County, like many similar postwar suburban areas, found itself a victim of its own Chamber of Commerce propaganda with a population increase of 70 per cent over the past five years. In spite of the construction of several new hospitals and a cerebral palsy clinic at Roosevelt, Long Island, the increasing popula

tion and the subsequent increase in the incidence of infantile paralysis and cerebral palsy, found the county sadly lacking in adequate facilities. Nowhere was there available an indoor pool for swimming, a physical activity which offers therapeutic value as well as recreational and emotional outlets.

It was through the combined efforts of the following people that a partial solution evolved. Henry Hartmann, director of water safety for the Nassau County Chapter of the American Red Cross, established a swimming program for the physically handicapped. Paul Dawson Eddy, president of Adelphi College, made available the use of the college pool. The idea was then presented to Mrs. Earl Caniff, executive secretary of the Nassau Chapter of the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis and to the late Robert V. Martin of the Nassau Chapter of the United Cerebral Palsy Association, who were both enthusiastic and co-operative.

With this backing, the Red Cross announced the starting of recreational swimming classes for the physically handicapped under the direction of the author. There were two classes weekly for the polio patients and two a week for the cerebral palsy children. Within a few weeks, the first class was organized at Adelphi

Nancy can do a single-arm side stroke. She has lost the use of one arm.

14

during the summer session. The results were so gratifying and the thrill of the children so great that the Red Cross decided to maintain the program on a year-round basis.

HOW PROGRAM WORKS

Individuals are admitted to the program after screening by the Infantile Paralysis Foundation, by Dr. Martin, and the Nassau County Department of Health. These organizations recommend only those patients for whom they feel swimming will be most beneficial, physically and psychologically.

Through swimming, these victims of polio are able to maintain joint mobility and range of motion as well as improve the muscle tone in areas weakened by the attack. With the cerebral palsy cases, the objective is the establishment of co-ordination and relaxation of the muscles through swimming in water that has been heated to 80° to 85°. This temperature is too cool for ideal therapeutic purposes but the over-all value seems to far outweigh any disadvantages. Such a compromise on temperature is necessary because the pool is used for swimming classes and team as well as for the program for the physically handicapped.

Emotionally, the sense of physical accomplishment that these children have been able to achieve in the water has given them a feeling of "normalcy" in relation to their peers. They have something to brag about. One mother wrote, "I can't find words to tell you how much this has done for him emotionally. It is the first time, since he was put into leg braces at 20 months old, that he is able to brag and boast of a physical accomplishment. I even get the feeling from him that if he was able to learn how to swim, then there isn't anything that he won't be able to do in time." Some have brought their friends to visit so they could "show off"; mothers have talked of increased appetites and a good night's sleep. Activity absorbs anxiety. When one looks at the 15 children waiting at the side of the pool, the only anxiety present is one of "how soon are we going into the water?" This is one class in physical education that is

never cut.

Susie CAN swim, even though she cannot stand in the pool or walk without her braces and crutches.

LABORATORY EXPERIENCE

With the program on a year-round basis at the college, one laboratory hour weekly was added to the course in Physical Education for Atypical Children. It is our belief that a large factor in the failure of most programs in physical education to devote more time to a corrective program or to one especially adapted for the physically handicapped is the feeling upon the part of the teacher of inadequate preparation to handle such a program. The strength of our future physical education programs lies in the more thorough and practical preparation of undergraduate students in this phase of the field. In Applied Anatomy and Kinesiology, one hour weekly is devoted to laboratory work in manual muscle testing. The following semester the major students acquire further practical experience through their work in the pool.

The complete medical case history of each polio child in the swimming

program is discussed in class. Then each major student is assigned to a child with whom he or she works for the semester. The major student does a manual muscle test on the child under the guidance of the author. The results are recorded on a chart. Periodically throughout the semester, a retest is done to check the progress of the individual. The student, with the author, holds a consultation with the college physician who, using the results of the muscle test and the medical history, prescribes a set of exercises for each person. The first 15 to 20 minutes of each hour in the pool is devoted to these exercises.

As a phase of this program, the adaptation of swimming strokes to meet the particular disability of each individual is important. Nancy and John have both lost the use of one arm. They were taught a single-arm side stroke with great success as well as a single over-arm crawl. There is (Concluded on page 22)

HE ABILITY to swim the same

THE

stroke continuously for at least one-eighth of a mile stands high on the ladder of accomplishment in a swimming program. It comes as a logical development after learning the form of a stroke and requires a smooth co-ordination of the arms, legs, and breathing, an efficient application of power and relaxation, and ability to gain "second wind." It shows a development of organic power through deepened respiration, increased circulation, and improved tone of the heart and respiratory muscles. The accomplishment develops confidence and an emotional satisfaction that are stimulating to the swimmer.

The type of swimming program considered in this article is one that emphasizes endurance swimming in beginning, intermediate, and advanced classes for recreational and safety purposes rather than as training for competition. A goal of oneeighth of a mile (220 yards or 11 lengths of a 60-foot pool) is chosen because that distance is a reasonable one to swim during a class period and at the same time adequate to test endurance ability. Practice with attention to rhythmic breathing, relaxation, and smooth co-ordination will produce the efficient strokes with which one can attain this goal.

by FERN YATES Barnard College

BREATHING TECHNIQUE

Mastery of the breathing technique is vitally important. Inspiration is through the mouth and expiration preferably through both nose and mouth. This method is the best one to protect the sinuses and is used with all strokes: those where the breathing is entirely above water as well as where expiration is into the water. The breath is never held but is continually inhaled and exhaled as in normal breathing, coordinating one breath with each stroke. These are points to emphasize from the beginning, even with the most elementary strokes.

For each six-beat front crawl stroke there is one complete breath. Inhalation is faster than exhalation, and the teacher can think of it in the ratio of two counts for breathing in and four for breathing out. Expiration starts as the face turns into the water and continues until it emerges; a new breath is then taken and the cycle continues in a comfortable tempo in the breathing ratio of two to four, and using more force on expiration than is required when exhaling into the air. Deep breathing is essential. The swimmer must regulate the amount of air he inhales

not too much, not too little, but just the comfortable amount needed for expiration. Too little allows an increase of carbon-dioxide in the tissues which builds up fatigue.

CO-ORDINATION IMPORTANT

Practice of the correct co-ordination of arms, legs, and breathing trains the involved muscles effectively and eliminates useless movements of other muscles. Training enables the swimmer to expend less energy and to relax. There are definite times during each stroke to relax the muscles: during expiration in breathing and during the recovery part of the arm and leg movements, except in the case of the crawl kicks. In the continuous up and down movement of the crawl kicks some degree of relaxation may be obtained by executing the leg movements with a minimum of muscle tension. Limber knees and very relaxed ankles are essential. (Yet, time and again, students are told to keep their knees straight, and even stiff!) The alternate application of work and rest results in a lessening of tension and fatigue.

When a swimmer, although he has practiced correctly, exerts continuous effort and covers many laps of the pool, he may find increasing difficulty in breathing but he will get (Concluded on page 53)