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. 

Why preventative healthcare is critical to sustainable healthcare and how physiotherapy supports this

Although the healthcare sector is a critical service provider in every country, it possesses a significant environmental footprint (Malik, Lenzen, McAlister, & McGain, 2018). Without intervention, emissions from the healthcare sector are predicted to rise due to a...

Seeing as caring part two: Deliberate

In science, we use large datasets to learn things. Single-case studies are placed low on the pyramid of evidence and are valuable, but are nevertheless overlooked in critical decisions, such as when to approve a new medication or develop clinical practice guidelines....

Strategies for carbon footprint reduction in research and higher education

Building on insights into the carbon footprint of research and education, I am following my recent post with a list of actionable strategies to reduce ecological impact while maintaining the integrity of scientific inquiry and knowledge dissemination. From...

The environment as a tool for patient-centred care: a bridge between physiotherapy and Dance Movement Therapy

For the past few years, body and movement have been the prime focus of my professional and personal life. As a physiotherapist and Dance Movement Therapy practitioner this is not surprising and what my practice has made me realise is that movement is the essence of...

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