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. 

Sinai University Holds Its First Environmental Physiotherapy Session

This October, Sinai University officially joined the Environmental Physiotherapy Agenda, becoming the first university in Egypt to do so. With the prompt support of the Dean of the Faculty of Physical Therapy, Prof. Awny Rahmy, a session was organized for physical...

Umwelteinflüsse und ihre Bedeutung im diagnostischen Prozess in der Physiotherapie

Die Umwelt und der Mensch können nicht losgelöst voneinander betrachtet oder analysiert werden. Auch wenn Umwelt auf den ersten Blick abstrakt und fern wirkt, hat sie doch durchgehend einen fundamentalen Anteil an der menschlichen Entwicklung im physischen, kognitiven...

Come into action: A water project

How hard is it to come into action, specifically concerning environmental issues? If you're honestly planning to save the world, it could be pretty hard! Couldn't it? But even if you don't care about the environment on a daily basis in your job or have had training in...

Intersections of Health, Social, and Environmental Justice: A Canadian Perspective

At the first-ever Environmental Physiotherapy Festival 2023, Erin Keough, Susan Czyzo and I came together to host a talk and discussion on the intersections of different justice areas, the environment, and healthcare, all while centering a Canadian perspective. We...

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