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. 

Connecting with nature as homework in physiotherapy – A Bsc thesis reflection

There is rarely a day when I don't go out, because I feel like my body really calls for it. Physiotherapy starts within us, within you, within yourself. If you feel tension right now you might be better off scrolling to the next picture and put the words into...

World Physiotherapy Congress 2021 – The inofficial environmental physiotherapy stream

Shortly after the launch of the Environmental Physiotherapy Association in the middle of 2019 I put out what felt like a wish to the universe (in blogpost format) hoping for people to submit their interest in environmental and sustainability related topics to be...

Environmental Physiotherapy at APASC25 in Adelaide, 23-25 October

Thanks to the Australian Physiotherapy Association Occupational Health group, Environmental physiotherapy will be featured prominently at the upcoming APA Scientific Congress 2025 in Adelaide from 23- 25 October. On Wednesday 22 October we will run a pre-conference...

Occupational Therapists for Environmental Action

The Occupational Therapists for Environmental Action (OTEA) is an American network of occupational therapy (OT) practitioners, researchers, educators, and students advocating for the profession to address climate change. Occupations are everyday activities that...

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