"Who's Who in Aquatics," listing the top 100 leaders in the field, and highlighting them in the national Aquatics magazine, finds Conway's Mary Essert among the elite.
The selections were compiled by experts representing Aquatics International and the United States Water Fitness Association.
Essert joins a cadre of fitness experts from around the world who ply their trade in the water. She is the founder/director of Essert Associates Inc. and serves as a consultant and an international workshop and seminar presenter.
Her specialty is the creation of water-fitness and post-rehabilitation programs for individuals with disabilities or painful conditions, such as arthritis.
"Move it or lose it," is Essert's mantra as she extols the virtues of water in the management of physical distress.
Her efforts have garnered wide acclaim, including her most recent honor as the "Aquatic Therapy Professional of the Year" from the national Aquatic Therapy Institute.
Essert is a breast cancer survivor and is battling fibromyalgia, a disorder characterized by muscle pain, stiffness and fatigue. Fibromyalgia is recognized as a medical ailment, the cause being unknown but affecting more than 30 million people in the United States.
The fitness expert has trained therapists and instructors worldwide to treat persons with fibromyalgia through waterworks undertaken in progressively graded programs.
She is involved with work at the Conway Regional Fitness Center on Salem Road, and with therapists at the Conway Therapy Services on Museum Road.
In effect, Essert has dedicated her life to helping and improving the lives of people through aquatics. She has been involved in the pursuit since 1949, teaching swimming, water fitness and therapy intervention techniques.
She suggests that her workshops indicate that aquatic exercises and therapy with a trained, competent therapist can benefit people with arthritis-related problems, including osteoarthritis, fibromyalgia, osteoporosis, joint replacement, breast cancer, cardiac problems, diabetes, multiple sclerosis and other ailments.
Essert also offers videos on waterworks fitness.
EDNOTE:(Staff writer Fred Petrucelli can be reached by phone at 505-1256.)
