Karnataka - Mangalore   

Physiotherapists urged to promote their profession

Staff Correspondent

Two-day workshop on `Taping techniques in sports injuries' inaugurated

ON PHYSIOTHERAPY: Andrew Leipus, consultant physiotherapist to BCCI, delivering the inaugural address at a workshop in Mangalore on Wednesday.

MANGALORE: Physiotherapy as a profession is in a developmental phase in India.

It is imperative for physiotherapists to promote the profession and strive for professional autonomy, Andrew Leipus, former physiotherapist of the Indian cricket team, has said.

Physiotherapy represents the building block of sports medicine and offers a bright future for its practitioners, he added.

Inaugurating a two-day workshop on "Taping techniques in sports injuries" organised by the Dr. M.V. Shetty College of Physiotherapy here on Wednesday, Dr. Leipus, who at present is a physiotherapy consultant to the BCCI, said it was not an easy task becoming a physiotherapist. "One needs to have time, belief and skills and put in effort to pursue physiotherapy as a career," he said.

Credibility

Advising physiotherapists to work hard to take physiotherapy to the level where it needed to be, he said: "You should be in a position to highlight the credibility of your skills. You will be spending a lot more time with people, making subjective and objective evaluations and working with them in their rehabilitation."

He said a general practitioner or a specialist would be spending less time with individuals in the course of treatment. It was important for physiotherapists to gain the confidence of their patients to ensure their rehabilitation. Continuous upgradation of knowledge was essential in this field, he added.

Admitting that physiotherapy was yet to receive autonomous status in India, he said the onus rested on physiotherapists to convince the medical fraternity that they deserved independent status.

Healthcare

Stating that they should be able to apply their skills properly, he said physiotherapists should work towards becoming an integral part of the healthcare system.

The organisers honoured Dr. Leipus and Nidarsh Hegde and Bharath Shetty, newly elected senate members of the Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences, Bangalore. Ranjith Shetty, trustee, Dr. M.V. Shetty Memorial Trust, presided over the function.

Rajesh Kumar, principal, welcomed the gathering. U.T. Iftikar Ali, course convener, and others were present.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Stories in this Section

Physiotherapists urged to promote their profession
Hospital to get blood component separator facility
Woman robbed of gold chain at Mojukere
BJP, SIO condemn terror attacks in Mumbai
In Mangalore Today

Copyright © 2006, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu