Every day during September we will post up an idea for you to vote on. The most popular ideas will become the things that the inaugural Organizing Committee of the Critical Physiotherapy Network focuses on in 2015. So please make sure you cast your vote at the bottom of each post. (Un)conferences are all the rage these days. With an (un)conference, instead of people meeting for formal presentations and hours of plenary sessions, the structure of the meeting is left open and it develops organically based on the participants' needs. (I confess that I do have a bit of a problem with the *un* prefix here since a conference was always meant to mean 'bring together,' and so does not … [Read more...] about Idea 18: Organising a virtual (un)conference (2 mins)
Idea 17: Developing our own visual style (2 mins)
Every day during September we will post up an idea for you to vote on. The most popular ideas will become the things that the inaugural Organizing Committee of the Critical Physiotherapy Network focuses on in 2015. So please make sure you cast your vote at the bottom of each post. Every organisation worth its salt has a clear visual identity. This often includes a logo that is immediately recognisable, a certain typeface and set of style sheets so that people can quickly recognise communications from the group, and a particular colour palette. Often these days, we think that these things are cynically applied by big corporations for marketing advantage, but there is also a lot … [Read more...] about Idea 17: Developing our own visual style (2 mins)
Interview with Jenny Setchell
Every so often we profile a member of the Critical Physiotherapy Network to find out a bit more about them and their work. In this 'interview' we asked Jenny Setchell, PhD candidate, Pilates instructor, yoga teacher and circus trainer/performer about the inspiration behind her research. Jenny works at Performance Rehab in Brisbane, Australia and has been a member of the CPN since its inception. You can find Jenny's CPN member profile here What made you look at physiotherapy and weight stigma in the first place? I have always been interested in stigma and oppression and as a physiotherapist never felt like there was a place for me to discuss this in my profession beyond one-on-one … [Read more...] about Interview with Jenny Setchell
Massage in Sciatica from 1886
From The Lancet, June 26 1886, p.1232 Professor Max Schüller of Berlin is convinced (Deutsche Med. Wochensch., No. 24) of the superiority of massage over other measures employed in the treatment of sciatica, and relates his experience of fifteen cases--all in males, and, except in one or two instances (which were traumatic), due to exposure to cold. Most of the cases were dealt with from the first by massage ; but in a few instances electricity, vapour baths, &c., had been fruitlessly employed prior to coming under his care. The modus operandi is as follows. The patient lies on the unaffected side with knees and hips slightly flexed. The course of the sciatic nerve is rubbed from … [Read more...] about Massage in Sciatica from 1886
Idea 16: Offering a secure research repository (5 mins)
Every day during September we will post up an idea for you to vote on. The most popular ideas will become the things that the inaugural Organizing Committee of the Critical Physiotherapy Network focuses on in 2015. So please make sure you cast your vote at the bottom of each post. One of the most astonishing things I've learnt in setting up this group has been the amount of critical research that people are doing in physiotherapy that I had absolutely no idea about. Now I don't think of myself as someone who ignores other people's research, or as someone who is particularly selective about what they read. And I don't think that my curating skills are so bad that I wouldn't see a … [Read more...] about Idea 16: Offering a secure research repository (5 mins)
Idea 15: Explain how philosophy links to physiotherapy (4 mins)
Every day during September we will post up an idea for you to vote on. The most popular ideas will become the things that the inaugural Organizing Committee of the Critical Physiotherapy Network focuses on in 2015. So please make sure you cast your vote at the bottom of each post. Alain de Botton certainly has his critics. His books sell in the millions and offer the kinds of homespun wisdom usually frowned upon by serious academics. I love his work though and have found books like Status Anxiety, How Proust Can Change Your Life and The Consolations of Philosophy to offer all the insight of a really good teacher - making things clear without ever decending becoming patronizing - … [Read more...] about Idea 15: Explain how philosophy links to physiotherapy (4 mins)
Idea 14: Supporting people to attend conferences (4 mins)
Every day during September we will post up an idea for you to vote on. The most popular ideas will become the things that the inaugural Organizing Committee of the Critical Physiotherapy Network focuses on in 2015. So please make sure you cast your vote at the bottom of each post. Academic conferences are curious beasts. Some of them are enormous gatherings of people from all corners of the globe with multiple concurrent streams and a book of abstracts that looks like the St John's Bible (see WCPT or QI2015, for example). Others are bespoke affairs usually catering for a more discrete group of participants with a specific purpose in mind (I would put the ISIH conference in this … [Read more...] about Idea 14: Supporting people to attend conferences (4 mins)