Ethics of touch-axiological model of therapeutic relation in physiotherapy1

Abstract

The aim of the paper is to present morally significant features of the physiotherapist-patient relation (which distinguish it from other therapeutic relations in medicine), as well as to analyze the importance of body, intimacy and touch in the context of physiotherapist's work (particularly the moral meaning of touch and the risk of patient's physical, mental and emotional boundaries violation). The paper is also an outline of an initial axiological model of therapeutic relation in physiotherapy.