Need for Physiotherapy in Rural Areas

Physical challenges affect a large number of people worldwide. Physiotherapy is an important part of health treatment that addresses some of these challenges effectively. There is little data on the percentage of the rural population that uses physiotherapy and how that lack of use affects them. Some of the papers referred to in this paper show that there is very little awareness of physiotherapy in the rural areas of a developing country. While the studies cited show that physiotherapy treatment is beneficial, lack of physiotherapy centres has forced patients to go without treatment. The authors' survey demonstrates how the lack of treatment has resulted in severe pain, inability to perform daily household chores, and wage loss. In the absence of physiotherapy, the alternative treatment given is a painkiller; our survey results show that this does not help the patients. Thus, among the issues are lack of public awareness and little or no access to physiotherapy services due to inadequate infrastructure and resources. The paper argues that physiotherapy should be made an integral component of India's healthcare system.