Be fit for your job, your leisure, your life.

Be fit for your job, your leisure, your life.

Some prominent New Zealanders are profiled to show how physiotherapy enables them to excel in their chosen activities. Accompanying this news release are three stories: one, entitled Physiotherapy for the Extremes, about extreme sportsman Mark Inglis; another, called Striving for the Perfect Game, about elite young sportswoman Anna Scarlett, who has chosen physiotherapy for her career; and A Workplace Success Story, analysing a highly successful collaboration between a physiotherapy clinic and major New Zealand firm Fulton Hogan - a collaboration which has contributed to a dramatic reduction in the injuries suffered by the firm's manual workers.

The common thread linking an elite athlete, an extreme sportsman and teams of manual workers is the emphasis on taking responsibility for being strong enough to do what you need or want to do in life. Training, lifestyle modifications, thinking through the tasks ahead, and good old common sense are all elements of the preparation provided by physiotherapists.

Physiotherapists have chosen the theme of Strength and Safety at Work and Play for World Physiotherapy Day (8 September) this year.

Physiotherapists around New Zealand will be demonstrating the diverse roles they play in helping people to build up strength and stay safe in every aspect of life.

Promoting and maintaining individuals' good health and vitality make up a major part of what physiotherapists do. Physiotherapists are "movement specialists" who help people stay active and keep moving. They teach good movement techniques to help individuals in whatever they are doing. An occasional sports player, an elite athlete, a road builder, an office worker, a housekeeper all can learn techniques for moving safely and building up strength.

Everyone has seen physiotherapists on the sports field dealing with injuries, or in hospital helping people to mobilise again after an accident - the rehabilitative side of physiotherapy. This September, physiotherapists want to show the preventative side of their jobs.

Around the country various events will celebrate World Physiotherapy Day. Some branches of the New Zealand Society of Physiotherapists (NZSP) will be profiling local identities who have benefited from physiotherapy.

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