It has been said that the physical therapy profession is defined by a body of knowledge and clinical applications that are directed toward the elimination or resolution of disability.Understanding the disabling consequences of disease, injury, and abnormalities of development and how the risk of potential disability can be reduced, therefore, must be fundamental to the provision of effective care and services, which are geared to the restoration of meaningful function for patients and their families, significant others, and caregivers.

Disablement is a term that refers to the impact(s) and functional consequences of acute or chronic conditions, such as disease, injury, and congenital or developmental abnormalities, on specific body systems that compromise basic human performance and an individual’s ability to meet necessary, customary, expected, and desired societal functions and roles. Physical therapists most commonly provide care and services to people with physical disability. Social, emotional, and cognitive disablement can affect physical function and vice versa and, therefore, should not be disregarded or dismissed.

Knowledge of the process of disablement provides a foundation for health-care professionals to develop an appreciation of the complex relationships among function, disability, and health. This knowledge, in turn, provides a theoretical framework upon which practice can be organized and research can be based, thus facilitating effective management and care of patients that is reflected by meaningful functional outcomes.

Inherent in the integration and application of knowledge of the disablement process in health-care delivery is an understanding that the process is not unidirectional; that is, it is not necessarily unpreventable or irreversible. Furthermore, it is assumed that in most instances, depending on factors such as the severity and duration of the pathological condition, a patient’s access to quality health care as well as the motivation and desires of the patient, the progression of the process can indeed be altered and the patient’s function improved.

An understanding and application of the disablement process shifts the focus of patient management from strict treatment of a disease or injury to treatment of the impact that a disease, injury, or disorder has on a patient’s function as well as the identification of the underlying causes of the patient’s dysfunction. This perspective puts the person, not solely the disease or disorder, at the center of efforts to prevent or halt the progression of disablement by employing interventions that improve a patient’s functional abilities while simultaneously reducing or eliminating the causes of disability.

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