Abstract

This chapter reviews the efficacy of the only South African exercise therapy profession (Biokinetics) in the rehabilitation of non-communicable diseases (NCDs). Biokinetics is a South African exercise therapy profession established in 1983 and which operates in both the pathogenic and fortogenic healthcare paradigms. Unfortunately, the profession of Biokinetics is restricted to the South African private healthcare sector. This chapter describes the scope of the profession of Biokinetics, empirical studies illustrating the efficacy of the profession in addressing society’s non-communicable disease epidemic, and the challenges inhibiting the profession from gaining access to the South African public healthcare sector. It is hoped that the presentation and critical appraisal of the empirical evidence which illustrates the contribution of the profession of Biokinetics to the rehabilitation of NCDs justifies the authors’ claims for the inclusion of the aforementioned profession in the South African public healthcare sector.

Highlights

  • The profession of Biokinetics is a specialised application of clinical exercise therapy which developed from the South African Universities Physical Education Programme in 1983 [1]

  • The profession of Biokinetics is an exercise therapy vocation that advocates habitual physical activity and exercises as an adjunct to other management strategies adopted within a multi-disciplinary healthcare support team

  • The profession of Biokinetics is only operational in the private healthcare sector in South Africa

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Summary

Introduction

The profession of Biokinetics is a specialised application of clinical exercise therapy which developed from the South African Universities Physical Education Programme in 1983 [1]. Dr Danie Craven was the inaugural director of the Physical Training Brigade.5 This historical synopsis places the resurgence of the South African Physical Education programme in the context of military involvement in pioneering South African health and wellness efforts, Healthcare Access commemorating the inaugural establishment of the first of the South African multidisciplinary medical rehabilitation team, and the intuitive preliminary South African exercise therapeutic and research based approach to restoring an individual’s health and well-being. During the late 1960’s a drastic change in the research philosophy of South African exercise rehabilitative medicine occurred, prompted by the inventive research of Gert Lukas Strydom [9]. FJ Buys later became a professor at the Potchefstroom University for Christian Higher Education ( known as North-West University), with JJ Cilliers becoming a prominent professor at Tshwane University of Technology

Scope of profession of Biokinetics
Health dimensions and health paradigms
Non-communicable diseases
How exercise combats non-communicable diseases
Exercise-induced mechanisms for combatting cardiovascular diseases
Exercise-induced mechanisms for combatting chronic respiratory diseases
Exercise-induced mechanisms for combatting diabetes mellitus
Exercise-induced mechanisms for combatting cancer
Role of Biokinetics in the public sector
Challenges for the inclusion of the profession of Biokinetics into the South African public healthcare sector
Findings
Conclusion
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