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Integration
of Energy Medicine in Physiotherapy
Practice
Physiotherapy and Complementary Medicine.
Information Paper. Number PA48
(2001)
Many new opportunities
exist for the integration of complementary therapies into
conventional healthcare. The evidence base to support some of
the complementary medicine (CM) approaches is growing, and changes
to the delivery of healthcare as outlined in the NHS Plan (Secretary
of State for Health 2000) will mean that services will become
client-centred, giving users a greater say in what services are
provided.
1.3. Zollman & Vickers (1999)
Purpose of complementary medicine is to restore
balance and facilitate the body's own healing responses rather than
to target individual disease processes or stop troublesome symptoms.
The principles underpinning CM approaches include:
Each individual is
unique.
The restoration of health may
require scientific, artistic and spiritual
insights.
A loss in the meaning and
purpose attached to life may lead to deterioration in
health.
Illness may provide
opportunities for positive change and a new balance in our
lives.
Clearly
these principles are not necessarily unique to CM approaches as
they represent the underpinning principles of good patient
management.
2.4. CM is increasingly being provided
from within the NHS. Currently 58% of primary care groups
provide some access to CM via primary care (NHSE 2000)
Evolving Scope of
Practice
4.1. The 1996
Curriculum Framework defines physiotherapy as:
……a health care
profession which emphasises the use of physical approaches in the
promotion, maintenance and restoration of an individual's
psychological and social well-being, encompassing variations in
health status CSP, CPSM (1996)
4.2.
Historically, the profession has developed around
three core skills of manual
therapy, manual therapy,
therapeutic exercise and electro-physical modalities. The
philosophies and approaches of the core of physiotherapy practice
have evolved in response to technological advances, development of
an evidence-base, reorganisation of healthcare delivery and public
demand. This evolutionary process ensures that the practice of
physiotherapy remains effective (by reflecting the evidence base for
example) and that it can adopt new innovations, which fall within
the scope of practice.
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