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 Healing Power of House Plants in Physiotherapy Clinics

In physiotherapy, where the focus is on the patient’s pain, and restoring optimal function, there is a tendency for a myopic view of rehabilitation. While the greatest attention should be given on providing a quality assessment and intervention, the environment where...

Monkey business – Pain in humans and other animals

As a veterinary and human physical therapist and wildlife rehabilitator, specialised in primates, I am intrigued by the differences and (more interesting) the similarities between species. When it comes to pain, there’s a large variety in behaviours. This variety in...

Training beyond the health sciences to promote ecologically grounded physiotherapy

Humans are intrinsically and dynamically tied to the environment. Not only do we shape the environment that we inhabit, but the environment also shapes our behaviours. Of particular relevance to physiotherapists, the environment influences human motor behaviour. J.J....

Breaking up the boundaries of our profession and creating something meaningful – Living the Oneness of One Health

Things are packed, and the passport is ready. Now it's just a matter of getting on the train and embarking on an adventure. Quite unexpectedly, as a Master's Student in Physiotherapy, I was accepted for the One Health Summer School in Edinburgh, organized by Una...

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