Thanks (or blame) goes to Kate Waterworth for finding these gems. Click on the image for the full magic. … [Read more...] about Poststructuralism explained with hipster beards
Critical perspective on client-centred practice
A few weeks ago, I posted up a blog from Hybrid Pedagogy that shed some light on what it means to be critical. With perfect timing, Karen Whalley Hammell (author of Perspectives on Disability and Rehabilitation and honorary under cover member of the Critical Physiotherapy Network), has published a new paper in the Scandinavian Journal of Occupational Therapy (access the abstract here) Although the paper is directed at an occupational therapy readership, there's a lot in the paper for physiotherapists to reflect on. Karen is very keen to share thoughts and ideas about the paper (you can find her contact details in the list of CPN members). … [Read more...] about Critical perspective on client-centred practice
Qualitative research for mere mortals #1
There's a lot more qualitative research being produced by physiotherapists today, which is gratifying because for a long time it looked like the profession might be stuck in an endless loop of clinical trials on hamstring stretching, and the last thing the profession needs right now is more trials on hamstring stretching. But there's still a dire need for more qualitative research in physiotherapy, and especially good quality research, which can sometimes be in short supply. How many times have you read a piece of qualitative research and thought that the authors were just telling you what you already knew? You know the kind of thing I mean: an interview-based study of people's experience … [Read more...] about Qualitative research for mere mortals #1
Strong and modern – physiotherapy and physical culture
Physiotherapists are very interested in fitness, leisure and sport, but they rarely discuss the history of these ideas, or the place of physical therapies (massage, manipulations and mobilisations, remedial exercise, electrotherapy, hydrotherapy etc.) in the promotion of the health of the population. There are a number of reasons why I think we should pay more attention to this specific history. Firstly, it's one of the few areas where physical therapies have made a genuine contribution to the health of the population. I don't mean the health of individual patients that, taken together, amounts to the health of the population, but rather an approach applied to the population as a whole - … [Read more...] about Strong and modern – physiotherapy and physical culture
Metaphors of rhizomatic thinking
Earlier this week Mike Stewart (@knowpainmike) ran a @physiotalk Tweet Chat on the hidden influence of metaphor in physiotherapy (see here, and Mike's excellent review of the Tweet Chat here). It inspired me to think about the role metaphors play in learning. If you follow this blog regularly, you will have heard the name Gilles Deleuze. If you haven't heard this name though, it might pay to do a bit of web trawling, because some of his ideas are pretty astonishing. There have been some startling thinkers emerge from Europe over the last 100 years - Heidegger, Foucault, Sartre, Derrida, Adorno, etc. - but, for pure inventiveness, Deleuze takes the biscuit. (One tip though...I would not … [Read more...] about Metaphors of rhizomatic thinking
Do you want our physiotherapy degree? No thanks, I made my own.
There was a story going around recently about Phil Lord's response when asked why his Lego movie had been snubbed for an Oscar. His reply was priceless. "It's okay" he said. "Made my own" (link). One of the things that's so fantastic about this response is the way Lord snubs the authority of the Oscar Nomination's Committee and says "I don't need your validation to know I've made a movie that's been a popular success, and I've got my own gong to prove it." When people make this kind of statement it says some interesting things about our changing attitudes towards authority. It seems to me, people these days are much less dependent on the validation, approval and sanction of authority … [Read more...] about Do you want our physiotherapy degree? No thanks, I made my own.
A short history of medicine
I have a headache: 2000 BC: Here, eat this root. 1000 AD: That root is heathen. Here, say this prayer. 1850 AD: That prayer is superstition. Here, drink this potion. 1940 AD: That potion is snake oil. Here, swallow this pill. 1985 AD: That pill is ineffective. Here, take this antibiotic. 2015 AD: That antibiotic is artificial. Here, eat this root. (Adapted from post originally published here). … [Read more...] about A short history of medicine