Mariette Swanepoel

By Terry Jeremy Ellapen, Gert Lukas Strydom, Mariette Swanepoel, Henriette Hammill and Yvonne Paul

This chapter describes the South African profession of Biokinetics, which operates within the pathogenic and fortogenic health paradigms. Biokinetics is an exercise therapy profession that exclusively prescribes individulaised exercise and physical activity for rehabilitation and promotion of health and quality of life. Biokinetics differs from physiotherapy primarily due its management of injuries, illnesses and disabilities within the final-phase of rehabilitation. A brief history of the profession and its scope of profession and its alignment within the South African National Health statutory and professional bodies will be presented. The two pedagogic models adopted for the teaching and training of Biokinetics will also be discussed. Interprofessional collaborative partnerships within the medical-rehabilitation fraternity, sport, health and fitness industries and educational employment opportunities will be reviewed. Finally, the idea of internationalisation of the profession of Biokinetics to similar exercise therapy professions such as Clinical Exercise Physiology and Athletic Training will be presented.

Part of the book: Sport and Exercise Science

By Terry Jeremy Ellapen, Mariette Swanepoel, Marco Barnard and Yvonne Paul

Final-phase rehabilitation in South Africa is synonymous with the professions of Physiotherapy and Biokinetics; no consideration is given to the contribution of the profession of Recreational Therapy, which successfully contributes to other international healthcare paradigms. The primary aim was to determine whether collaborative relationships exist between South African recreational therapists and physiotherapists or biokineticists. A secondary aim was to review the potential inclusion of the profession of Recreational Therapy within the existing South African patient referral system of the multidisciplinary healthcare paradigm. An electronic search of the Google Scholar and Sabinet databases identified no records regarding interprofessional collaborative relationships between Recreational Therapy, Physiotherapy and Biokinetics. The authors therefore used two indirect records that prescribe interprofessional collaboration among South African healthcare practitioners during final-phase exercise rehabilitation. The quality of these individual records was appraised using the modified Downs and Black Scale in order to reduce bias. While there is a paucity of literature identifying the absence of interprofessional collaborative relationships between Recreational Therapy, Biokinetics, and Physiotherapy, the Health Professions Council of South Africa (HPCSA) guide nevertheless allows for dynamic overlap among final-phase exercise therapists, thereby providing an opportunity for the inclusion of Recreational Therapy within the existing dynamic, multidisciplinary, South African healthcare paradigm. The inclusion of the profession of Recreational Therapy, as part of a collaborative team effort, can be helpful in order to address the multifaceted challenges experienced by many South African patients.

Part of the book: Physical Therapy Effectiveness