Overview

Physiotherapy is a health care profession concerned with human function and movement and maximising potential:

• It uses physical approaches to promote, maintain and restore physical, psychological and social well being, taking account of variations in health status
• It is science-based, committed to extending, applying, evaluating and reviewing the evidence that underpins and informs its practice and delivery
• The exercise of clinical judgement and informed interpretation is at its core
• The above definition is taken from the CSP Curriculum Framework (January 2002)
• Physiotherapists work in a wide variety of health settings such as intensive care, mental illness, stroke recovery, occupational health and care of the elderly

History

The search for the roots of physiotherapy traditionally begins in antiquity, with the gladiators' schools, but these serve as an unfortunate example for the worthy art of laying on of hands. Their denial of the human body and its needs makes the middle ages a poor place to look, as well, so that one might best begin with the Enlightenment, whose cry, "back to Nature!", heralded the beginnings of respect for the human body.

When in the late 19th and early 20th century gymnastics gained recognition as a method of healing, the true history of physiotherapy could begin. However, in our search for that which has proven most valuable over the years, it would be a grave error to focus our attentions only on the changing treatment techniques, transient as they often prove to be. That which is essential, and what we must hold onto in order to shape the future of physiotherapy, is the "theapeutic traid": our hands, touching in both the physical and emotional sense, our eyes, observing special physical details, while seeing each patient's special qualities, and last but not least, basic caring, standing by our patients and empowering them to take their lives back into their own hands.

Benefits

Most people are aware that physiotherapists treat common ailments like back pain, muscle pain and sports injury. However, every day physiotherapists are helping patients to overcome a much wider range of conditions such as incontinence, osteoporosis, depression, asthma and even irritable bowel syndrome.

Procedure

A Chartered Physiotherapist treats injury and disease by correcting and improving the body's own natural healing mechanism without the use of medication. This involves a detailed assessment in order to make a clinical diagnoses and select the appropriate treatment e.g. (1) manual treatment like manipulation or massage (2) exercise programmes (3) hydrotherapy


Source of information: www.physiointhecity.com | www.csp.org.uk