Physiotherapy, as described by global body World Physiotherapy, is a healthcare profession concerned with human function and movement and maximising physical potential. It deals with the identification and maximisation of the quality of life and movement potential within the spheres of promotion, prevention, treatment/intervention, habilitation and rehabilitation.
It uses physical approaches to promote, maintain and restore physical, psychological and social well-being, taking into account variations in health status. This field of study is science-based, committed to extending, applying, evaluating and reviewing the evidence that underpins and informs its practice. Physiotherapists and Physical Therapists (PTs) work within a wide variety of health settings to improve a broad range of physical problems associated with different systems of the body.
In particular, they treat neuromuscular (brain and nervous system), musculoskeletal (soft tissues, joints and bones), cardiovascular and respiratory systems (heart and lungs and associated physiology).
Physiotherapists work autonomously, often as a member of a team with other health or social care professionals.
Physiotherapy is characterised by reflective behaviour and systematic clinical reasoning, both contributing to and underpinning a problem-solving approach to patient-centric care. People are often referred for physiotherapy by doctors or other health and social care professionals. Increasingly, as a result of changes in healthcare dynamics, people are going directly to physiotherapists (first-line access) without previously seeing any other healthcare professionals.
Trends in Canada and Australia, for example, are even exploring the role of physiotherapist within the triage system of emergency departments.
Physicians like Hippocrates, and later Galenus, are believed to have been the first practitioners of physiotherapy, advocating manual therapy techniques and hydrotherapy to treat people in 460 B.C. After the development of orthopaedics in the eighteenth century, machines like the Gymnasticon were developed to treat gout and similar diseases by the systematic exercise of the joints, similar to later developments in physiotherapy.
The earliest documented origins of actual physiotherapy as a professional group date back to Per Henrik Ling “Father of Swedish Gymnastics” who founded the Royal Central Institute of Gymnastics (RCIG) in 1813 for manipulation, and exercise. In 1887, PTs were given official registration by Sweden’s National Board of Health and Welfare.
Physiotherapy is an important intervention that prevents and mitigates the adverse effects of prolonged bed rest and mechanical ventilation during critical illness. Rehabilitation delivered by physiotherapists is tailored to patient needs and depends on the conscious state, psychological status and physical strength of the patient.
It incorporates any active and passive therapy that promotes movement and includes mobilisation. Early progressive physiotherapy, with a focus on mobility and walking whilst ventilated, is essential in minimising functional decline.
8th September is World Physical Therapy Day and is celebrated all over the world to raise awareness about the crucial contribution of the physical therapists and chronic pain therapies. This day marks the unity and solidarity of the global physical therapy community. It is an opportunity to recognise the work that physiotherapists do for their patients.
Physiotherapists are respected and acknowledged around the world, but in Pakistan, many remain unemployed and those who do have jobs operate with limited resources and are overworked. They also face discriminatory treatment as they are mentally stressed and are expected to work without stipends -- in the name of 'experience'. Physiotherapists are not eligible for house job in any hospital.
The trend of unpaid internships is on the rise as fresh graduates have no option but to get an internship with no incentive. This is a form of exploitation and must end.
It uses physical approaches to promote, maintain and restore physical, psychological and social well-being, taking into account variations in health status. This field of study is science-based, committed to extending, applying, evaluating and reviewing the evidence that underpins and informs its practice. Physiotherapists and Physical Therapists (PTs) work within a wide variety of health settings to improve a broad range of physical problems associated with different systems of the body.
In particular, they treat neuromuscular (brain and nervous system), musculoskeletal (soft tissues, joints and bones), cardiovascular and respiratory systems (heart and lungs and associated physiology).
Physiotherapists work autonomously, often as a member of a team with other health or social care professionals.
Physiotherapy is characterised by reflective behaviour and systematic clinical reasoning, both contributing to and underpinning a problem-solving approach to patient-centric care. People are often referred for physiotherapy by doctors or other health and social care professionals. Increasingly, as a result of changes in healthcare dynamics, people are going directly to physiotherapists (first-line access) without previously seeing any other healthcare professionals.
Trends in Canada and Australia, for example, are even exploring the role of physiotherapist within the triage system of emergency departments.
Physicians like Hippocrates, and later Galenus, are believed to have been the first practitioners of physiotherapy, advocating manual therapy techniques and hydrotherapy to treat people in 460 B.C. After the development of orthopaedics in the eighteenth century, machines like the Gymnasticon were developed to treat gout and similar diseases by the systematic exercise of the joints, similar to later developments in physiotherapy.
The earliest documented origins of actual physiotherapy as a professional group date back to Per Henrik Ling “Father of Swedish Gymnastics” who founded the Royal Central Institute of Gymnastics (RCIG) in 1813 for manipulation, and exercise. In 1887, PTs were given official registration by Sweden’s National Board of Health and Welfare.
Physiotherapy is an important intervention that prevents and mitigates the adverse effects of prolonged bed rest and mechanical ventilation during critical illness. Rehabilitation delivered by physiotherapists is tailored to patient needs and depends on the conscious state, psychological status and physical strength of the patient.
It incorporates any active and passive therapy that promotes movement and includes mobilisation. Early progressive physiotherapy, with a focus on mobility and walking whilst ventilated, is essential in minimising functional decline.
Physiotherapy is an important intervention that prevents and mitigates the adverse effects of prolonged bed rest and mechanical ventilation during critical illness. Rehabilitation delivered by physiotherapists is tailored to patient needs and depends on the conscious state, psychological status and physical strength of the patient.
8th September is World Physical Therapy Day and is celebrated all over the world to raise awareness about the crucial contribution of the physical therapists and chronic pain therapies. This day marks the unity and solidarity of the global physical therapy community. It is an opportunity to recognise the work that physiotherapists do for their patients.
Physiotherapists are respected and acknowledged around the world, but in Pakistan, many remain unemployed and those who do have jobs operate with limited resources and are overworked. They also face discriminatory treatment as they are mentally stressed and are expected to work without stipends -- in the name of 'experience'. Physiotherapists are not eligible for house job in any hospital.
The trend of unpaid internships is on the rise as fresh graduates have no option but to get an internship with no incentive. This is a form of exploitation and must end.