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. 

Let’s get out of the burning house! (…by changing our view of the patient)

Is changing our perspective of patients the place to start? At the first-ever Environmental Physiotherapy Festival 2023, I led a session on redefining the concept of the patient in physiotherapy, summarising key points from my October blog on Moving Earth (Gevers,...

Physiotherapy and the Sustainable Development Goals – A students perspective

Now more than ever it feels necessary to, at a very minimum, encourage deliberation on the importance of adopting more sustainable practices in physiotherapy. Major fields such as engineering and fashion have already begun the process of teaching students about...

Reconnecting with nature helped me reconnect with myself and the world

During the worst years of my pain I became withdrawn and isolated, disconnected from the people, places, and experiences that mattered to me. My sole focus was pain and being rid of it so I could get on with my life and get back to being me. Back then, sitting was my...

Can greenspace exposure improve pain outcomes?

Have you ever told a patient to spend more time in greenspaces to help reduce their pain? I haven’t, but this simple intervention may improve pain outcomes for our patients. It was not something I had given a lot of thought to, until a discussion with colleagues last...

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