Only two weeks to go now until the greatest show on (physiotherapy) earth gets under way. WCPT Cape Town will be a smorgasbord of ideas, people, meetings, presentations, and inspiration, and the Critical Physiotherapy Network will be there in force. If you're attending the Congress and would like to find out more about the Network, you can pop into our Focused Symposium, which will be in Ballroom East on Monday 3rd July from 10:45-12:15pm. There, Barbara Gibson, Jenny Setchell, Viviana Silva, Mershen Pillay and I will be presenting some ideas about critical thinking in physiotherapy and discussing how physiotherapy might move forward from here. But the biggest CPN-specific event … [Read more...] about The greatest show on (physiotherapy) earth
Kicking up, not kicking down
A friend of mine works with young people who are first- or second-generation migrants to New Zealand. Her job is to equip them with the skills they'll need to run campaigns, advocate for their communities, and improve the lives of the people around them. They're 'therapists' of a sort. She has a simple way of knowing whether someone is doing the right thing or not. She asks "Are you kicking up, or kicking down?" By 'kicking up', she means agitating against those people with power, the ones in positions in authority. All too often people find it easier to kick down: taking aim at the people who are easy targets, because they're vulnerable, less powerful, less fortunate. It's the … [Read more...] about Kicking up, not kicking down
The highs and lows of blogging about physiotherapy
In a couple of weeks time, I'll be heading off to Cape Town for WCPT. As part of the CPN Salon that we're running on the Wednesday immediately after the conference, I'll be delivering a short 'State of the CPN' talk. Looking back, the Network has done some incredible things in just three years, but digging down into our archives I've found some things that have given me pause for thought. One of them is the popularity of some of the blogposts and the almost complete disinterest people show in others. For instance, our most popular blog by far was 10 reasons to love physiotherapy. We had nearly 40,000 views of this post. This was nearly three times as many people who have ever … [Read more...] about The highs and lows of blogging about physiotherapy
Review of Barbara Gibson’s book ‘Rehabilitation: a post-critical approach’
There are a lot of physiotherapy books in print, but not many of them engage in the kinds of (post)critical thinking celebrated by the CPN. One exception is Barbara Gibson's superb Rehabilitation: a post-critical approach, published last year by Taylor and Francis. Earlier this week a new review of the book came out in the eminent journal Disability & Society. The review highlights the many radical and important features of the book, and celebrates Barbara's ability to 'extend[s] these discussions and bring[s] a critical eye to bear on concepts that remain under-theorised within the field'. There is a link to the review in the title of the journal above, but if you'd prefer, … [Read more...] about Review of Barbara Gibson’s book ‘Rehabilitation: a post-critical approach’
Are health professionals parasites?
There are many powerful critical arguments about health professional practice. Anyone who has studied how health professionals came into being, whose interests they served, or how they've adapted to the broader changes happening in society, can't fail to be shaken by the belief that the fight to become the agents of our own destiny is one with many casualties, many of whom are the people we earnestly claim to serve. Perhaps one of the most powerful arguments pertaining to physiotherapy - especially those areas of the practice that relate to long-term illness and disability - comes from disabled people themselves, who, for more than half a century, have been vocal in their criticism of … [Read more...] about Are health professionals parasites?
Physiotherapie beurteilen
This German translation of the article 'Judging physiotherapy' posted earlier this week, was kindly produced by CPN member Filip Maric. WCPT-Präsident Emma Stokes, Professor Peter O'Sullivan und andere haben sich diese Woche in einer Twitter-Diskussion damit auseinandergesetzt wie man in der Physiotherapie eine Kultur schaffen könnte die Wandel und Veränderung pflegt und fördert (siehe @ekstokes twitter feed für den 29. Mai). Die Idee von ‘Raum ohne Urteil’ wurde als eine positivere Herangehensweise zu Veränderung vorgeschlagen, als die häufiger übliche gegenseite Kritik unter Physiotherapeuten auf eine abwertende Art und Weise (@karenlitzyNYC, 29. Mai). Ein paar Tage zuvor … [Read more...] about Physiotherapie beurteilen
Judging physiotherapy
WCPT President Emma Stokes, Professor Peter O'Sullivan and others have been engaged this week in a Twitter discussion about how to create a culture in physiotherapy that nurtures change (see @ekstokes twitter feed for 29th May). The idea of 'space without judgement' was suggested as a more positive approach to change than physiotherapists perpetually 'bashing each other' (@karenlitzyNYC, 29 May). A few days earlier, Laura Opstedal had written about Letting go of traditions in physical therapy, arguing that resistance to change was a big barrier to progress, and that exploring 'the new' might be a creative way to proceed. This post followed nicely on from Roger Kerry's piece … [Read more...] about Judging physiotherapy