Program title: BPT VIII SEMESTER

Course Code: 06ABPTR22812

Course Title: COMMUNITY PHYSIOTHERAPY

Unit Title: BASIC CONCEPTS

Sub-unit title: historical aspects ,holistic approaches and

need for community physiotherapy

EXPECTED LEARNING
OUTCOMES
• INTRODUCTION TO COMMUNITY
PHYSIOTHERAPY
• DEFINITION
• NEED FOR COMMUNITY PHYSIOTHERAPY
• HISTORICAL ASPECTS
• HOLISITIC APPROACH TOWARDS HEALTH
AND DISEASE
INTRODUCTION:
In community physiotherapy, the emphasis is on the
setting “where” the treatment takes place.
As the name clearly suggests, it is physiotherapy
services “in the community” as opposed to acute-care
setting.
The physiotherapist visits the patient in the
community and offers treatment. Community could
be the patient’s home or residential care facility
where the patient resides.
Community physiotherapy is unique to every country.

The successful implementation of community physiotherapy

depends on various factors, such as the local community settings,
the availability of resources, the type of health conditions prevalent
at the time of rehabilitation, and the national health laws, to name a
few.

Certain challenges are common to most countries, especially the

developing ones.
If major challenges like lack of adequate training and research
opportunities and inadequate awareness about the importance of
physiotherapy among communities, are addressed, community
physiotherapy can prove to be cost-effective tool of rehabilitation.

The progressive community physiotherapy models that are being

used in developed countries can serve as a guide to countries that
are struggling to further community health.

Physiotherapist could hold an important position in community

rehabilitation with the importance placed on the health component
of the CBR Matrix

The roles are varied and depend on the circumstances and the needs
of the community.
Some of the commonly faced challenges in community
physiotherapy are the inadequate training and research
opportunities for physiotherapy students, lack of sufficient number
of community physiotherapists and, most importantly, the need to
recognise physiotherapy as an important component of community
health
CONCEPTS IN COMMUNITY
PHYSIOTHERAPY
• The patient and caregivers (including family) are
the primary decision-makers.
• Holistic approach to treatment and management is
undertaken, including physical, psychological,
financial and social contexts.
• Treatment effectiveness including preventative
strategies is emphasized.
DEFINITION
• Community physiotherapy is physiotherapy treatment offered
in the community.
• As opposed to acute care physiotherapy that’s offered in a
specific clinic or hospital, community physiotherapy is more
heavily focused on the “where” in terms of where treatment is
offered.
• Community-based rehabilitation (CBR) is a strategy within
community development for the rehabilitation, equalization of
opportunities and social integration of all people with
disabilities. CBR is implemented through the combined efforts
of disabled people themselves, their families and
communities, and the appropriate health, education, vocational
and social services.
NEED FOR CBP
• The need arises where the community level is low ,
the lack of awareness is also present.
• It also arises when there is a mass treatment and the
places where the individuals wise attentition is not
needed.
• Global pandemic considerations
• Keeps people out of hospitals
• Supports rural communities
• Supports the ageing population
• Provides unmatched comfort
HISTORICAL ASPECTS
• Internationally, the community-based rehabilitation
movement began with two
World Health Organization (WHO) initiatives of the
1970s and ’80s:
• (1) the primary health care (PHC) campaign Health
for All by the Year 2000, introduced in 1978, and
• (2) the community-based rehabilitation movement
that emerged, in part, from the PHC campaign.
Generally, the PHC campaign focused on efforts to
raise the level of health in the world by increasing
access to health care in less-developed countries.
In the beginning of the 1960s, efforts to establish rehabilitation centers
in developing countries had taken hold in urban centers but failed to provide
support and assistance to disabled people in rural areas throughout the world.
The response of world aid organizations was to shift funding from city-based
hospitals to rural community programs.

The first CBR pilot projects were launched in the 1960s, and their continuing
success has led to CBR programs being adopted
throughout Africa, Asia and South America

The profession of physiotherapy gained recognition during the time of World

War I,with services being rendered in acute-care as well as community settings.
It can thus be inferred that physiotherapy services in and for the community
could have begun as early as 1914. Since then, there has been ample research
globally.
HEALTH AND DISEASE
• HEALTH - A state of complete physical, mental
and social. well-being and not merely the absence
of. disease or infirmity” – WHO Constitution.

• any harmful deviation from the normal

structural or functional state of an organism,
generally associated with certain signs and
symptoms and differing in nature from physical
injury.- DISEASE
HOLISITIC APPROACHES
• Holistic health is about caring for the whole person —
providing for your physical, mental, spiritual, and social
needs. It's rooted in the understanding that all these
aspects affect your overall health, and being unwell in
one aspect affects you in others.
• Take stress, for example. It's a psychological response,
but it can also cause physical symptoms, such as
headaches, trouble sleeping, weight gain, and muscle
pain. Of course, it works both ways, and being
physically ill can cause you to feel anxious or depressed.
Meanwhile, your spirituality and your relationships can
boost your mental and physical health.
• THE 5 ASPECTS OF HOLISTIC
HEALTH: PHYSICAL, EMOTIONAL, SOCIAL,
SPIRITUAL, AND MENTAL. When it comes to
holistic health we are looking beyond the physical
body and are addressing physical, emotional, social,
spiritual, and intellectual health
• SWAY LINKS:
• https://sway.office.com/vTk8GwB9sbJUUDRl?
ref=Link