A report in The New York magazine last week speculated on the likelihood that President Trump might die in office because he is one of the least active presidents in human history (link). How, you might ask, has this got anything to do with physiotherapy? Well, the President of the United States, it seems, holds a view about the body, and the detrimental effects of exercise, that was popularised by some of the same 19th century physicians that made physical therapy popular. It seems President Trump 'considers exercise misguided, arguing that a person, like a battery, is born with a finite amount of energy' (link). There's a lovely historical overview in The Guardian about this … [Read more...] about Assault and battery
If you’re looking for innovation, regulatory authorities need to change
One of the challenges facing the physiotherapy profession today is not so much what the future might be, but how to get there. Innovation requires creativity and imagination; going beyond oneself and the limits on what might be possible. Georges Bataille called this transgression, and his work explores why our moral codes are set 'here' and not 'over there'. His writings concentrate on some of most sensitive topics, particularly to do with sex, because, he argued, it's here where we choose to apply some of our most stringent social conventions and norms. Bataille's idea was that we need to explore ways of thinking and being that are far beyond our present boundaries of convention if … [Read more...] about If you’re looking for innovation, regulatory authorities need to change
Creativity in physiotherapy
Anyone who lives with, knows, or has trained as an artist will be painfully aware of how lacking in creativity a lot of physiotherapy education and practice is. My brother is a photographer and a teacher, and I am frequently reminded of how differently he responds to things. Where he often thinks like an artist, I often default to the kinds of design-thinking that Grace Jeffers talks about when she says that "Design thinking is about solving a problem, but art thinking is about feeling your way to a solution" (link). It's not that there's anything particularly wrong with the way physiotherapists are trained to think - there's certainly a lot to be said for the kinds of deductive … [Read more...] about Creativity in physiotherapy
Stories of Illness / Disability in Literature and Comics – Berlin, October 27-28 2017
From October 27-28, 2017, this two-day academic conference at the Berlin Museum of Medical History at the Charité examines the ways in which knowledge and experience of illness and disability circulate within the realms of medicine, art, the personal and the cultural. We invite papers that address this question from a variety of different perspectives, including literary scholarship, comics studies, media studies, disability studies, and health humanities/ sociology/ geography. Keynote speaker: Leigh Gilmore (Wellesley College), Author of The Limits of Autobiography: Trauma and Testimony (2001) and Tainted Witness: Why we doubt what women say about their lives (2017). The PathoGraphics … [Read more...] about Stories of Illness / Disability in Literature and Comics – Berlin, October 27-28 2017
Ageing: From 1 to 100 in 3 minutes (video)
This is a work of genius, and a brilliant way to illustrate the idea of the 'lifespan'. It would make a fabulous subject for analysis by physiotherapy students, and a great way to think about the idea of embodiment. For some reason, it reminded me of a quote by Maurice Merleau-Ponty: The world and Being hold together only in movement; it is only in this way that all things can be together. Philosophy is a reminding of this being. … [Read more...] about Ageing: From 1 to 100 in 3 minutes (video)
History of physical therapy networking session at WCPT – ideas and translators needed
There will be a breakfast networking session for people interested in the history of physical therapy at the WCPT Congress in Cape Town, South Africa on Monday 3rd July from 7 - 8:15am. I'll be chairing the session, and the congress organisers are looking for 4 discussion points that they can use to advertise the session. I'd be really interested in people's thoughts about these possible topics, and any suggestions for alternatives: The history of causing and relieving pain The gendered history of physical therapy What our history can tell us about our present and future practice Researching the history of the profession The congress organisers are also looking to … [Read more...] about History of physical therapy networking session at WCPT – ideas and translators needed
The case for ‘caring activism’
A recent review of Peter Limbrick's new book made me think about some of the anxieties many of us are now feeling about the slow bleeding out of publicly-funded healthcare, and what it might mean for the future of professions like physiotherapy. A full review of the book, titled Caring activism: a 21st century concept of care. A proposal for citizens to join together to support vulnerable children, teenagers, adults and elderly people, can be read here, but what particularly struck me were these two opening paragraphs; Peter Limbrick’s Caring Activism argues the case for what he calls ‘a new concept of care I am proposing for vulnerable people in this 21st Century’ (13). Limbrick … [Read more...] about The case for ‘caring activism’