Advancing an environmentally responsible physiotherapy

 

The world faces complex and interrelated crises… Climate change, biodiversity loss, pollution, rapid urbanization, geopolitical conflict and militarization, demographic change, population displacement, poverty, and widespread inequity create risks of future crises even more severe than those experienced today. Responses require investments that integrate planetary, societal, community and individual health and well-being (WHO 2021 Geneva Charter for Wellbeing)

 

 The impact of human activities on our planet’s natural systems has been intensifying rapidly in the past several decades, leading to disruption and transformation of most natural systems. These disruptions in the atmosphere, oceans, and across the terrestrial land surface are not only driving species to extinction, they pose serious threats to human health and wellbeing. Characterising and addressing these threats requires a paradigm shift (Myers, 2017)

Action at the level of direct drivers of nature decline, although necessary, is not sufficient … a sustainable global future’ is ‘only possible with urgent transformative change that tackles the root causes: the interconnected economic, socio-cultural, demographic, political, institutional, and technological indirect drivers behind the direct drivers (Diaz et al., 2019)

About

An international community of academics, clinicians, practitioners and students interested in exploring and advancing the field of environmental physiotherapy. 

Blog

Follow our latest musings on environmental physiotherapy. Ideas, inspiration, news, publications, events, and more. 

Join

Become part of the first international community of physiotherapists with an interest in researching, developing, and practising physiotherapy at a planetary scale. 

Resources

A growing selection of resources carefully selected by members of the EPA to inspire your thinking and practice of environmental physiotherapy. 

The power of trees

Trees are the lifeblood of the earth. Their roots run deep in the soil and resemble the veins and arteries of our planet, sustaining and nourishing the life of the ground around them. Their very existence helps to create oxygen that sustains most life on our little...

Living well with pain, by the sea

Living with persistent pain can be difficult!  Pain permeates every part of my life and is my constant companion.  In this blog I hope to show how the beauty of the natural world can help support those of us living with persistent pain, and in particular how living by...

Fysiotherapie en vergroening: resonantie tussen gezondheid en ecologie

De klimaat- en biodiversiteitscrisis stelt ons als fysiotherapeuten niet alleen voor praktische vragen, maar ook voor fundamentele uitdagingen in hoe wij als fysiotherapeuten gezondheid, zorg en verantwoordelijkheid begrijpen en vormgeven. Deze uitdagingen brengen ons...

Announcing the first-ever international Environmental Physiotherapy Festival 2023

Environmental physiotherapy has gone through an incredible evolution over the last four years. The EPA will soon have over 1000 members, planetary health, environmental and sustainability education is entering physiotherapy curricula everywhere around the world, new...

If you have any thoughts, ideas or questions about environmental physiotherapy,
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