Area Geographical classification of areas in Australia was based on the 1991 Australian Bureau of Statistics ’ geographical classifications for area : metropolitan , rural and regional . Most participants ( 1305 out of 1917 , 68.1 %) reported that their main practice was in a metropolitan area , 567 out of 1917 ( 29.6 %) practised in a rural area and 45 ( 2.4 %) practised in a remote area ( see Table 1.1 ).
Table 1.1 Practitioner ’ s Main Practice Location Area
Area n (%) Metropolitan 1,305 ( 68.1 ) Rural 567 ( 29.6 ) Remote 45 ( 2.4 ) Total 1,917 ( 100 )
Primary Natural Therapy Discipline Respondents could list their primary natural therapy discipline and up to two other natural therapy disciplines that they practised . A total of 588 out of 1753 ( 32.1 %) reported Remedial Massage as their primary discipline , 435 out of 1753 ( 23.7 %) reported Naturopathy , 136 out of 1753 ( 7.4 %) reported Acupuncture , 104 out of 1753 ( 5.7 %) reported Nutrition , 80 out of 1753 ( 4.4 %) reported Homeopathy , 50 out of 1753 ( 2.7 %) reported Western Herbal Medicine and 31 out of 1753 ( 1.7 %) reported Massage Therapy / Swedish Relaxation as their primary discipline . Two hundred and eighteen respondents ( 3.4 %) selected ‘ Other ’ for their primary discipline and were invited to enter a description of their practice . Respondents described ‘ Other ’ as various types of massage , therapeutic needling , stretch therapy , sports therapy , sound therapy , Scenar therapy , Pilates , personal training , personal development , occupational therapy , marketing , lymphatic drainage , life coaching and more . Table 1.2 displays the total number of practitioners qualified in each natural therapy discipline and the number and percentage of practitioners who listed the natural therapy discipline as their primary one .
Table 1.2 Practitioners per Natural Therapy Qualification and Primary Natural Therapy Discipline Practised
Natural Therapy Qualification
Total Number of Practitioners with this Qualification
Number (%) of Practitioners practising this Primary Natural Therapy Discipline
Remedial Massage 772 588 ( 32.1 ) Naturopathy 566 435 ( 23.7 ) Acupuncture 175 136 ( 7.4 ) Nutrition 297 104 ( 5.7 ) Homeopathy 139 80 ( 4.4 ) Other 218 62 ( 3.4 ) Western Herbal Medicine 236 50 ( 2.7 ) Kinesiology 78 44 ( 2.4 ) Energy Medicine / Energetic Healing 121 36 ( 2.0 ) Massage Therapy / Swedish Relaxation 331 31 ( 1.7 ) Aromatherapy 86 27 ( 1.5 ) Myotherapy 52 25 ( 1.4 ) Counselling 91 23 ( 1.3 ) Nursing 33 16 ( 0.9 ) Reflexology 93 13 ( 0.7 ) Shiatsu 40 13 ( 0.7 ) BowenTherapy 66 9 ( 0.5 ) Yoga Therapy 36 8 ( 0.4 ) Hypnotherapy 23 7 ( 0.4 ) Chinese Herbal Medicine 99 5 ( 0.3 ) Meditation Relaxation 50 5 ( 0.3 ) Ayurveda 15 6 ( 0.3 ) Reiki 85 4 ( 0.2 ) Osteopathy 9 3 ( 0.2 ) Physiotherapy 6 3 ( 0.2 ) Lifestyle Medicine 33 2 ( 0.1 ) Pharmacy 11 2 ( 0.1 ) GP 2 2 ( 0.1 ) Hydrotherapy 1 2 ( 0.1 ) Sports Massage 204 12 ( 0.07 ) Psychology 4 0 ( 0 ) Total 4111 1753 ( 100 )
Definitions of Natural Therapy Discipline Categories Primary natural therapy disciplines were clustered into five main categories :
• Physical Medicine including aromatherapy , Bowen therapy , hydrotherapy , kinesiology , myotherapy , osteopathy , reflexology , remedial massage , shiatsu , sports massage , massage therapy / Swedish / relaxation massage and yoga therapy
• Ingestive Medicine including Ayurveda , homeopathy , naturopathy , nutrition and Western herbal medicine
• Energetic Medicine including energetic healing and Reiki
• Registered Profession including acupuncture , Chinese medicine , chiropractic , general medical practice , nursing , pharmacy and physiotherapy
• Mind-Body Medicine including counselling , hypnotherapy , lifestyle medicine , meditation / relaxation and psychology
Just under half of the respondents ( 44.2 %) reported Physical Medicine as their primary natural therapy discipline followed by 38.6 % Ingestive Medicine , 9.6 % Registered Profession , 2.3 %
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