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. 

【開催レポート】環境理学療法座談会 in Japan 2025

~気候危機がもたらす臨床の変化と、リハビリテーション専門職の新たな役割~ 2025年11月20日(木)、環境理学療法協会(Environmental Physiotherapy Association: EPA)が主催する「EPA regions roundtables in Japan」がオンラインにて開催されました。本イベントは、EPAが世界各地で同日に開催するグローバルイベントの一環であり、日本国内のみならず海外在住の理学療法士も含め、16名が集まりました。開催の背景と基調講演  ...

A walking-based program to address the physical, mental and social aspects of low back pain: A single-case study

Last sprint in this Bachelor of Physiotherapy. Our bachelor thesis needs to be innovative! Looking for a partnership with a technology company to use micro sensors to assess the gait quality of patients. A professor comes with another great idea: prove that a...

The EPA joins the Planetary Health Alliance

We are excited to have joined the Planetary Health Alliance, a consortium of over 200 universities, non-governmental organizations, research institutes, and government entities from around the world committed to understanding and addressing global environmental change...

Is Environmental Healthcare Feasible for the U.S. Healthcare System?

U.S. American healthcare is a huge business. The U.S. “spends the most of any nation by far on its health care system, nearly one-fifth of GDP, “which makes it a trillion-dollar business (1). Dr. Elisabeth Rosenthal, author of An American Sickness, explains that...

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