Fisioterapia y ocio: la presencia del fisioterapeuta en el llamado turismo saludable

The problem of unqualified people masquerading as health professionals, such as physiotherapists, is increasing with the boom in health-oriented tourism, which frequently includes offers of massages, aqua-therapy, mud therapy and relaxation, anti-stress and anti-fatigue treatments, despite the fact that in most cases the necessary professional staff is simply not available. We have analysed such offers which specifically mention treatments which may be understood to be related with physiotherapy in the Internet and in several travel agencies to ascertain the extent to which these offers are actually include the intervention of a physiotherapist. The number of results in an Internet search under “Tourism and Health” was 1,770,000 of which 676,000 corresponded to Spain. Of these Spanish entries, we made a random analysis of 250 web sites based on the order in which they appeared. Only in 24 % was there specific mention of physiotherapy with the corresponding professional support, while 96 % referred to the use of techniques such as massage and hydrotherapy along with their therapeutic application. When we telephoned to ascertain whether or not a physiotherapist was in charge of providing the treatments, only 45% answered positively.