Alison Gerlach from the University of British Columbia in Canada has just had a paper published that challenges occupational therapists to think more critically about their work with individuals, families and groups who experience different forms of marginalization. She says about the paper "I think we need to be much more active in the international dialogue on health equity and we need to make sure that our thinking is as complex as the lives of the people that we aim to support." These are issues that are as relevant to physiotherapists as they are to OTs and the other health professions, so I thought it would be good to promote the paper here. In the spirit of sharing, Alison says that … [Read more...] about Sharpening your critical edge – a new paper by Alison Gerlach
Getting critical at physio conferences
After I sent a message to the Critical Physiotherapy Network mailing list Dave suggested I also make a blog post out of my thoughts. So here it is. N.B. those of you on the mailing list may note that this post is not very different from the email but please note that we do have an new proposed speaker joining us: Ian Edwards. Also the links to the conference should actually work here! As far as I know there has never been a dedicated critical physiotherapy session at a physiotherapy conference to date. I have personally found it difficult to find a place for the 'critical' topics that I propose to speak on at most dedicated physiotherapy conferences because my subject matter does not … [Read more...] about Getting critical at physio conferences
An early episode in the history of electrotherapy in Japan
I thought this blog might prove interesting, not least for a contra-European history of electrotherapy. … [Read more...] about An early episode in the history of electrotherapy in Japan
Why I recommend physiotherapy to my patients
In this blogpost, Dr Mario Elia talks about the reasons he supports referral to physiotherapy. I've re-blogged it here not because he waves a flag for physiotherapy - which is all well and good - but that he portrays physiotherapy as a safe pair of hands: consistent, predictable and reliable. "When I refer a patient to physiotherapy, for the most part I know exactly what my patients are getting into." While this might be the fantasy of our regulatory bodies, part of me wonders if being so conservative is such a great thing in the 21st century. Is there something about the embodied, sensual nature of health and illness that is elided when you have a strong, dependable professional identity? … [Read more...] about Why I recommend physiotherapy to my patients
Where are the wise?
A great blogpost on the virtues of innovation in education, courtesy of Ciaran Regan (CPN). … [Read more...] about Where are the wise?
Early Career Life in 2014 – George Campbell Gosling
"...it’s also been a year in which I’ve stopped trying to get myself into an ideal situation for putting my numerous plans into action and started getting on with them anyway." Great advice for anyone with a spare New Years resolution going unused! … [Read more...] about Early Career Life in 2014 – George Campbell Gosling
Report on 1st meeting of the Critical Physio Network Organising Committee
We had the first meeting of the Critical Physiotherapy Network Organising Committee (neatly abbreviated to CPN-OC). You'll remember we had six fabulously enthusiastic volunteers: Barbara Gibson (Canada), Jenny Setchell (Australia), Nicky Wilson & Gwyn Owen (UK), Simon Kirkegaard (Denmark), with me - Dave Nicholls (New Zealand) - in the Chair. The plan for the first meeting was to get the video conferencing software to work (why is it that the technology is always the biggest stress!), and to meet each other. I thought that if we could just achieve that, we would have achieved something quite momentous. I'm pleased to say we did achieve our objective, but with only minutes to … [Read more...] about Report on 1st meeting of the Critical Physio Network Organising Committee