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. 

Aquatic physiotherapy

The use of water for therapeutic purposes is an ancient practice of civilizations, which, through new techniques, remains in constant rediscovery. The application of water can occur through its three physical states and part or all of the body can be treated....

Advancing Environmental Physiotherapy at the Sustainability Congress in Coimbra Polytechnic Institute

At the recent 7ª Conferência Campus Sustentável (CCS2025), a Sustainability Congress held in Coimbra, Portugal, I was pleased to share two initiatives reflecting EPA's mission: integrating environmental and planetary health across physiotherapy education and practice....

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...

From Soil to Soul – Nature-based learning at Qatar University

In the spring 2025 semester, Qatar University (QU) Department of Rehabilitation Sciences (DRS) Physiotherapy students (class of 2026) engaged in a series of nature-based mindfulness activities, which we designed and delivered in order to deepen our connection with...

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