There’s nothing like remembering it’s World Physiotherapy Day on the 8th September at 11.55pm on 7th September. What do you do – ignore it and lie awake wishing you’d realized earlier and posted some masterpiece to commemorate your beloved profession and your mates who do good stuff around the world every day changing lives (hopefully for the better)? Or get your iPhone and type a blog one finger hoping not to disturb your hubby asleep beside . Yep you guessed it. No tossing and turning for me – fully awake and writing. In fact September is quite overloaded with “special” days, weeks and months as highlighted tonight on Gruen and many of them are incredibly relevant to what I do- but they did manage to leave an important one out – World Physio Day. September has amongst others Women’s Health Week, Prostate Awareness month and a new one for me which is very worthy- Steptember.
The theme for this year’s World Physiotherapy Day is ‘add life to years’—aligning with the World Confederation for Physical Therapy. The message builds on the findings of WHO’s World Report on Ageing and Health and a range of reports indicating the contribution and cost effectiveness of physiotherapy in healthy ageing.
Of course there’s not much point in adding years to life if the quality of those years is diminished due to Urinary or Faecal Incontinence or other pelvic health issues. So seeking assistance from your Continence and Women’s Health Physiotherapist is going to add value to those extra years. Part of our daily mantra to patients is to also exercise (pelvic floor safely if necessary) and to encourage healthy eating and avoiding smoking altogether, and drinking alcohol in moderation (except if pregnant when the new guidelines say zero alcohol consumption).
Seeking help for these personal issues is never easy – pelvic floor issues can be stigmatized and associated with shame and put in the “too hard basket” for many women and men. The benefit of highlighting what we do on such a day as World Physiotherapy Day, is that one extra person may just make a phone call; Google their nearest WHPhysio or do a walk-in and book an appointment. And that prompt may just be the turning point in the quality of any extra years of that person’s life that are achieved.
Happy World Physiotherapy Day to all my #pelvicmafia colleagues, and to all Physios world wide who work hard every day to add life to years.
The next blog will be coming from Europe- get your senses ready for some visual treats!
September 8th: World Physiotherapy Day
