From January 2010, for the first time, sports and remedial therapists in the UK will be regulated.The announcement was delivered today by the UK wide regulator, the Complementary and Natural Healthcare Council (CNHC) which opened its register earlier this year in the interests of protecting the public and setting standards within the industry.

Currently there is no UK wide regulator for sports and remedial therapists which means appropriately trained and skilled practitioners are not easily identifiable. The decision to open the CNHC register to them will allow athletes and their trainers to choose their practitioners secure in the knowledge they are appropriately qualified and meet national standards of conduct and training.

Opened in January 2009, the CNHC register has already admitted professionals from massage therapy, nutritional therapy, aromatherapy, reflexology and shiatsu who have all met the ‘gold standard’ within their field, and who are now entitled to display the quality mark confirming their registration.

Speaking today from the CNHC conference which was attended by Professional Associations in the complementary, health and wellbeing sector, Maggie Dunn, CEO/Registrar of the CNHC said: “This is not only an important development for the CNHC but also for the sports industry. Any sports and remedial therapist applying to the CNHC register does so in the knowledge that they have to meet specific standards. 

“This is vital at a time when the country is preparing for the greatest sporting event in the world, the Olympics. We need to be delivering quality on every level in preparation for the 2012 London Olympics and the admission of sports and remedial therapist to the CNHC register is an important development in this process.”

During the past year, the voluntary register has opened to a wide range of complementary and natural healthcare disciplines and by the end of the spring next year, practitioners of  yoga therapy, Alexander technique, cranial sacral and bowen technique will also be able to become regulated.
For further information about registration, visit www.cnhc.org.uk