by Astrid Polzer | May 5, 2026 | Environmental Physiotherapy, Nature-based interventions
Seit 2024 bin ich Teil des Herausgeber:innen-Teams der MSK – Zeitschrift für muskuloskelettale Physiotherapie. Die Fachzeitschrift fokussiert sich in jeder Ausgabe auf ein Schwerpunktthema, welches mit drei Artikeln aus unterschiedlichen Perspektiven beleuchtet wird....
by Jessica Stanhope | Apr 29, 2026 | Planetary Health
We are all aware of the negative health effects associated with sugar consumption, but have you thought about the planetary health implications of its production? Holidaying in Far North Queensland a few years ago brought home to me the scale of the destruction of the...
by Srishti Banerjee | Apr 20, 2026 | Clinic Design
The Environmental Physiotherapy Association highlights a recently published article in the Health Environments Research & Design (HERD) Journal that brings fresh evidence to the intersection of physiotherapy and clinical space design. Titled “Evidence-Based Design...
by Polina Boiko | Apr 7, 2026 | Environmental Sustainability
A few years ago, I shared here my decision to pursue a master’s degree in environmental sciences (Boiko, 2021). Today I’m excited to give an important update: my master’s thesis was recently published in a peer-reviewed journal, presenting what appears to be the first...
by Marianne Eliassen | Mar 27, 2026 | Environmental Physiotherapy, Nature-based interventions
How can physiotherapists contribute to meaningful aging through outdoor activities? And what happens to professional identity when physiotherapists move beyond the clinic and into nature? These were some of the key questions we sought to explore in our project on...
by Jessica Stanhope | Mar 26, 2026 | Environmental Physiotherapy, Nature-based interventions
Ever wonder how other allied health professionals are integrating nature-based approaches into their practice? We conducted a survey of allied health professionals in Australia who were interested in nature-based approaches to find out what they were doing, what...
by Jessica Stanhope | Mar 25, 2026 | Environmental Sustainability, Nature-based interventions
The original green prescriptions Green prescriptions are prescriptions to spend time in green space, right? Not necessarily. A “green prescription” was a term first coined in New Zealand in the 1990s to describe a written prescriptions for physical activity made by a...
by Shawn Rundell | Mar 24, 2026 | Disability, Environmental Physiotherapy, Nature-based interventions
Playing in and gaining exposure to nature improves child health and well-being, healthy child development, and academic performance, and encourages children to be stewards of the environment. Children with disabilities often have difficulty accessing nature for a...
by Laura Haase | Mar 23, 2026 | Community Health, Nature-based interventions
Um meine Doktorarbeit zu finanzieren, beschloss ich, wieder in meinem gelernten Beruf als Physiotherapeutin zu arbeiten. Ich freute mich darauf, wieder intensiver und direkt in Kontakt mit Menschen zu kommen. Jedoch spürte ich auch schnell und sehr deutlich, worauf...
by Julija Chichaeva | Mar 19, 2026 | Nature-based interventions
How can our relationship with nature support both human well-being and more sustainable ways of living? This question was at the heart of the Act with Nature research project, whose key findings will be presented in the webinar From Nature Connection to Action on 28...
by Tricia Soh | Mar 16, 2026 | Climate Change, Heat Stress, Occupational Health
The Work Health and Safety (WHS) module is a core component of the fourth-year physiotherapy program at the University of South Australia. Designed to bridge classroom learning with real-world application, it allows students to collaborate with industries to explore...
by Ana Flavia Schewtschik | Mar 10, 2026 | Nature-based interventions
Desde muito cedo me sentia em casa na natureza. O vento entre as folhas, o sol tocando a pele, o cheiro da terra depois da chuva, trazia uma sensação de equilíbrio e bem-estar que poucas coisas conseguiam proporcionar. Durante a graduação, percebi que me sentia melhor...
by Alaa Noureldeen Kora | Mar 2, 2026 | Physiotherapy Education
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...
by Emma Swärdh | Mar 2, 2026 | Advocacy, Environmental Physiotherapy, Physiotherapy Education, Planetary Health
In my role as a lecturer in the physiotherapy programme at Karolinska Institutet in Sweden, I have spent some years working at the intersection of planetary health, environmental physiotherapy, and sustainable healthcare. As the teacher responsible for these topics...
by Jennifer Allen | Mar 2, 2026 | Nature-based interventions, Physiotherapy Education
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...
by Donald Manlapaz | Mar 2, 2026 | Events
Environmental physiotherapy was featured for the first time ever in a focussed symposium at the Philippine Physical Therapy Asssociation National Convention 2025. The session “Environmental Physiotherapy and Sustainability: Integrating Teaching, Research, and...
by Andrea Ribeiro | Mar 2, 2026 | Environmental Physiotherapy, Events, Policy development
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...
by Freya Mizen | Feb 20, 2026 | Art and Planetary Health, Environmental Physiotherapy
Artists and scientists both observe and interpret the world, but they do so through different epistemologies. While these disciplines are distinct, encounters between them can generate new forms of understanding (Zhu & Goyal, 2018). Edwards (2009), a Harvard...
by Shirley Chubb | Feb 17, 2026 | Active Transport, Art and Planetary Health, Pain
The Posthuman Walking Project is a transdisciplinary collaboration of physiotherapy and visual arts academics and persons with experience of living with persistent pain. The project explores the entanglement of human and non-human entities when walking with pain. As...
by Eric Robertson | Feb 12, 2026 | Art and Planetary Health, Environmental Philosophies, Environmental Physiotherapy
Reconciliation in my art didn’t arrive as a grand revelation. It came as a slow, uncomfortable noticing that I was being pulled in opposite directions and still choosing to stand in the middle. On one side is my clinical life: evidence hierarchies, risk–benefit...
by Eric Robertson | Feb 9, 2026 | Art and Planetary Health, Environmental Philosophies, Environmental Physiotherapy
In science, we use large datasets to learn things. Single-case studies are placed low on the pyramid of evidence and are valuable, but are nevertheless overlooked in critical decisions, such as when to approve a new medication or develop clinical practice guidelines....
by Eric Robertson | Feb 2, 2026 | Art and Planetary Health, Environmental Philosophies, Environmental Physiotherapy
My artwork is a product of intuition. I am unable to preconceive of an image and make art reliably. It has to come from a place I cannot speak to directly. It has to come in its own time. This facet of my work comes from somewhere different than the part of my brain I...
by Orlagh Gaynor | Jan 27, 2026 | Healthpunk
A fictional, but not impossible, story based on a future that could be if current science and research-backed solutions to climate change were implemented by those in power. August 2030. The looming threat of a 26 billion euro fine snapped the Irish Government into...
by Freya Mizen | Jan 21, 2026 | Art and Planetary Health
Art remains a threatened and undervalued aspect of the scientific world, with many failing to appreciate its crucial role in communicating and promoting research and ideas. The moment where art and science become interdependent underscores the growing importance of...
by Daigo Hashimoto | Jan 14, 2026 | Environmental Physiotherapy, Events, Japan, Regions
～気候危機がもたらす臨床の変化と、リハビリテーション専門職の新たな役割～ 2025年11月20日（木）、環境理学療法協会（Environmental Physiotherapy Association: EPA）が主催する「EPA regions roundtables in Japan」がオンラインにて開催されました。本イベントは、EPAが世界各地で同日に開催するグローバルイベントの一環であり、日本国内のみならず海外在住の理学療法士も含め、16名が集まりました。 開催の背景と基調講演 ...
by Sundeep Watkins | Jan 6, 2026 | Physiotherapy Education
Physiotherapists are not only health care practitioners, they are also health advocates. When we understand that the wellbeing of people and the planet are closely connected, we can see the importance of embedding sustainability into physiotherapy education and the...
by Filip Maric | Dec 22, 2025 | Environmental Physiotherapy, Events, Regions
Since the EPA’s very beginning, we have been interested in developing environmental physiotherapy in ways that are representative and meaningful to different contexts and regions around the world. To me, this high degree of specificity and the diversity that...
by Émilie Fortin | Dec 9, 2025 | Nature-based interventions, Pain
Chronic diseases, which affect the majority of older adults in Canada, often lead to fatigue, reduced mobility, loss of strength and endurance, and chronic pain—ultimately diminishing quality of life. Growing research shows that contact and engagement with nature can...
by Maria Catalayud | Dec 2, 2025 | Animals in PT
Animal physiotherapy began with surprising enthusiasm, supported from its earliest days by none other than Lord Mountbatten (1939). It began to gain recognition and caught the attention of visionary therapists and forward-thinking institutions who believed that...
by Berta Paz Lourido | Nov 25, 2025 | Advocacy, Global warming, Planetary Health, Policy development
On 15 May 2025, the World Health Assembly (WHO) adopted the inaugural Global Action Plan on Climate Change and Health (2025–2028) during the 78th World Health Assembly (WHA78). The plan aligns with the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and...
by Srishti Banerjee | Nov 11, 2025 | Animals in PT
A recent Veterinary Record correspondence explores how veterinary physiotherapy can contribute to the One Health vision—advancing animal welfare while reducing the environmental footprint of care. From managing chronic conditions to supporting sustainable...
by Fernando Wang | Nov 4, 2025 | Advocacy, Disaster relief and humanitarian emergenciess, Ecocide
The Gaza Strip, a small coastal enclave home to more than 2 million Palestinians, has long been at the epicentre of conflict, displacement, and human tragedy. However, recent escalations have brought Gaza not only into the global spotlight as a humanitarian disaster...
by Danielle Munford | Oct 27, 2025 | Events
Thanks to the Chartered Society of Physiotherapy, Environmental Physiotherapy will be featured prominently at the upcoming CSP Conference 2025 in Newport, Wales, from 21st to 22nd November. On Saturday 22nd November from 11:00 AM – 12:00 PM we will run a symposium...
by Carl Olsson | Oct 16, 2025 | Environmental Philosophies, Environmental Physiotherapy
In a recent article in Cosmos and History, I try to reconstruct the implicit belief systems of people who work against the Earth. Athletes like gymnasts and pole vaulters are counted among these anti-planetary practitioners, and so are many physiotherapists. For all...
by Filip Maric | Oct 8, 2025 | Environmental Physiotherapy, Events
Since the launch of the Environmental Physiotherapy Association (EPA) in mid-2019, the EPA has been growing steadily and currently unites over 1500 international members. With people in all corners and time zones of the world, speaking all sorts of different...
by Samuel Krogh Pedersen | Oct 3, 2025 | Clinic Design, Environmental Physiotherapy, Nature-based interventions
Like many others, I started out in traditional physiotherapy settings with white clinic rooms, adjustable treatment tables and a gym. But over time, I began to feel increasingly disconnected from the people I was trying to help. Patients come into our world with their...
by Filip Maric | Sep 23, 2025 | Events
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...
by Ecological Health Network | Sep 15, 2025 | Environmental Physiotherapy, Greenspace Exposure, Nature-based interventions
The Ecological Health Network is excited to announce a call for papers for a Special Theme in the journal Environmental Conservation, focused on Conservation and Restoration for Healthy Environments and People. This Special Theme explores integrative thinking and...
by Ecological Health Network | Sep 3, 2025 | Nature-based interventions, Planetary Health
While decades of research show that degraded environments can harm health, and that exposure to green spaces supports human health, there is still a critical, under-investigated question: Can the conservation of biodiversity and restoration of degraded ecosystems lead...
by Samuel Dallaire | Aug 25, 2025 | Nature-based interventions, Occupational Therapy
Une rencontre, deux parcours, un même appel vers la nature Nous sommes deux thérapeutes, deux humains avant tout, réunis par une conviction commune : la nature guérit. Samuel est physiothérapeute et propriétaire de Physio Vertigo, un centre d’expertise dédié aux...
by Fanny Poget | Aug 19, 2025 | Active Transport, Advocacy, Clinical Practice, Disaster relief and humanitarian emergenciess, Environmental Physiotherapy, Environmental Sustainability
Face à l’urgence climatique et aux inégalités sociales croissantes, les professionnel·les de la santé et du social se retrouvent à un carrefour décisif : comment soigner les populations humaines tout en prenant soin de la planète, qui elle-même influence notre santé ?...
by Karen Hayes | Aug 5, 2025 | Environmental Justice
One of the magical things about living in a rural place is our geography. We love where we live and have the privilege of being close to nature most of the time. I am really lucky to live in the beautiful coastal town of Port Macquarie, Australia. We are known for our...
by Vincent Hoogstad | Jul 24, 2025 | Animals in PT, Environmental Physiotherapy, Pain
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...
by Eduardo Felipe Alfaro | Jun 17, 2025 | El mundo hispanohablante, Environmental Philosophies, Environmental Physiotherapy, Mental Health
Hay preguntas que no se responden en el aula ni en un congreso académico. Surgen, más bien, en el silencio del camino, en el dolor que persiste en el cuerpo de las personas y es compartido en los procesos terapéuticos, o en el temblor de una emoción al contemplar un...
by Erin Keough | Jun 5, 2025 | Environmental Physiotherapy, One Health, Planetary Health
I was attending a forum a few weeks ago when the “One Health” model became the topic of discussion. The One Health Model became popular in the SARS era of 2003-2004 (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2024a). This model has been circulating since the 1800s...
by Priscila de Brito Silva | May 27, 2025 | Environmental Physiotherapy, Physiotherapy Education, Planetary Health, SDGs
From March 24th – 28th, over 20 educators, researchers, and leaders of Physiotherapy Departments across Europe—spanning from Portugal, Spain, Austria, Germany, Belgium, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Ireland, Iceland, Norway, and Denmark—joined for a powerful deep-dive...
by Victoria Sparkes | May 5, 2025 | Disaster relief and humanitarian emergenciess, Environmental Physiotherapy, Extreme Medicine
The increasing commercialization of expeditions has led to the widespread inclusion of medical personnel to support remote challenges. While critical illness and injury remain relatively uncommon in these settings, minor musculoskeletal injuries, repetitive strain,...
by Joost van Wijchen | Apr 23, 2025 | Environmental Philosophies, Environmental Physiotherapy, Equity, Nederlands
De klimaat- en biodiversiteitscrisis stelt ons als fysiotherapeuten niet alleen voor praktische vragen, maar ook voor fundamentele uitdagingen in hoe wij als fysiotherapeuten gezondheid, zorg en verantwoordelijkheid begrijpen en vormgeven. Deze uitdagingen brengen ons...
by Matt Low | Apr 3, 2025 | Environmental Philosophies, Environmental Physiotherapy, Practice
Chronic musculoskeletal pain presents a significant challenge for healthcare professionals and patients alike. Traditional approaches, often rooted in the biomedical model, have focused on locating pain within damaged tissues and repairing the “broken” body. While...
by Lea Banville | Mar 20, 2025 | Physiotherapy Research, Planetary Health, Students in EPT
La plus grande menace du XXIème siècle, le changement climatique, a déjà de graves conséquences modifiant la face du monde. Ces effets nuisent gravement à la santé humaine avec l’émergence et l’accentuation de pathologies pouvant être observées sur tous...
