Last week we asked what kind of Critical Physiotherapy Course format you would be most interested in next year. Here are the results:
23 people voted for one of the four options.
9 voted for the idea of using clinical scenarios as the basis for thinking through theories and ideas.
7 voted for inviting non-physiotherapy speakers to introduce us to unfamiliar ideas and theories.
4 for using YouTube videos of theories and ideas as a prompt for discussion.
And 3 for inviting clients/patients to present as a starting point to thinking through theories and ideas.
What does this tell us?
Perhaps firstly that people are still struggling to find the practical use for philosophical ideas in practice, and that this is an ongoing problem for clinicians and teachers.
Secondly, that the people who voted see it as a part of the CPN’s remit to help people bridge the gap between theory and practice.
This second point is an especially interesting one.
The CPN was set up, in part, as a ‘space for ideas that promote a more positive, diverse & inclusive future for the profession’ (CPN Objective #8), and part of that has always meant sharing ideas in an open, collaborative and egalitarian way, without necessarily assuming the responsibility for explaining alien concepts to others.
Our first Objective also states that we will actively explore the world beyond the current boundaries of physiotherapy practice and thought. So is this vote a call to use theory to extend practice, or does it speak to a deeper desire to understand complex ideas from a perspective that feels more familiar and comfortable?
The axiomatic logic of this is that physiotherapy is a practical profession, and so we should always look to take new ideas back to practice. But is that necessarily true?
Doesn’t new thinking sometimes needs to breathe for a while and find its legs before being captured by the everyday constraints of practice.
Aren’t there sometimes dangers in trying to find the practical utility of things – particularly ideas that are radical, disruptive and dangerous – and find practical uses for them?
So should we take the vote on face value, or is it really the starting point for a bigger conversation about the purpose and function of the Critical Physiotherapy Course?
It would be lovely to hear your thoughts and comments on this.
Greetings Dave,
Thank-you for offering these reflections. I have encountered the same question in my work with narrative medicine. Beyond being practical, we physios are “goal-oriented” for certain. The questions I face in front of a new class of narrative learners are often – “yes, but what does this mean?”, “how am I going to use this with a patient?.” As someone who felt somewhat robbed of a liberal arts education when I reached mid-career, I reflect on the fact that when I began my narrative medicine journey, I didn’t ask these questions. I trusted in my teachers and myself that I would discover what I needed to know through the process. That if I started out with too much of a preconceived notion of what I would learn (and worse still, how I would use it in future) I would pre-condition myself to miss out on the really deep, transformative learning. Of seeing something that I had never seen before and experience the true euphoria of discovery. To feel the way I viewed the world change, in a blissful instant.
All of that is a long way to say, that I have begun responding to the question, “how are we going to use these tools in practice”, with the following…… We aren’t exploring stories through narrative medicine as a tool or an approach, but rather an opportunity to develop and calibrate yourself as the tool. My wish for you is that you aren’t using phenomenology as a structured method with your patients, a checklist to follow; but rather, that its principles are “in you” as you approach your spontaneous, interactions each day.
Thanks for the opportunity to share for what value it may have. Please keep up your wonderful work!
My two cents.
The speakers in this year’s CPN course started from a philosophical basis and gave examples from practice. In responding to the options perhaps we are looking at a theory informed by pracice perspective. There might also be interest in how and whether ‘a more positive, inclusive, critical future for physiotherapy’ (CPN constitution) has or is being achieved by looking at practice.
Looking at some of the definitions of practical there is the idea that something is practical if it is suitable for the situation in which it is used. One might ask if critical studies are practical for the purpose of an ‘otherwise’ physiotherapy; looking at practice for evidence of change is an option.
Good morning Dave
As you know, I have thoroughly enjoyed the courses this year, because as a novice philosopher, I was exposed to different ways of seeing the world in a simple, bite sized way that stimulated thought, about my clinical practice, yes (that is one of our common bases) but also about how one looks at the world. I would love to be exposed to more!!
The 2019 course was designed with novices like myself in mind as a small part of the CPN porfolio. My understanding of the purpose was not to teach philosophy.. but rather as a safe space for interested physiotherapists to be exposed to to new ideas/ways of thinking we may not have been previously exposed to (especially in our mostly scientific focused training). The physiotherapy slant gave an example/common base that was familiar to us all, and yes, we could apply some of these new ideas to our clinical practice, but that practical application was never the aim.
The method by which the 2019 course was delivered was by asking a more experienced health practitioners to present a philosopher/idea/research and share their expertise, thoughts and experiences and thus start a conversation. This begs the question, is having someone share an idea and facilitate the discussion teaching? or is it creating a forum for ideas?
So for me, it is not about the ‘how’ but the ‘why’. In looking to design next years course, I would suggest CPN looks at who is it aimed at and what are they hoping to do. Beyond that, it is like art, we will each take away our own interpretation.