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. 

Student opinions: Should physiotherapists learn about environmental sustainability?

When I told some of my peers that I was doing my dissertation on environmental sustainability in physiotherapy, I got lots of comments like “But… why?” or “Wow that’s very niche!” With a degree with such a high workload already, why would you add sustainability to the...

Green prescriptions are not necessarily what you think

The original green prescriptions Green prescriptions are prescriptions to spend time in green space, right? Not necessarily. A “green prescription” was a term first coined in New Zealand in the 1990s to describe a written prescriptions for physical activity made by a...

The Uprising part 2 – A regional roundtables event

Join other EPA members from your region for our second round of regional roundtables to share experiences, get inspired and get involved in the EPA!  The Uprising pt 2 – A regional roundtables event Monday 8 June – Saturday 20 June 2026 Since the launch of the...

Fluctuating Barometric Pressure – A Cause for Increase in Arthritic Pain?

How often have you heard a patient say, “This weather… oh, my arthritic knees”! Some patients say that with such conviction, but is there a correlation between weather changes and arthritic pain? Osteoarthritis (OA) is characterized by synovial inflammation, articular...

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