One of the characteristic features of 21st century learning (and yes, this applies to physiotherapy too), is a distrust of authoritative voices that once told us what was true and what was false, who to believe and why. It seems todays generation of learners - saturated with so many competing claims on their attention and perspective - are much less comfortable with authoritative voices that were once happy to be so authoritarian. So Dave Cormier's recent post challenging our thoughts about the word 'content' and its meaning in education are very much in keeping with this trend. Cormier raises some really interesting questions directly applicable the learning often offered to health … [Read more...] about Arguments against content
Why do things need to work?
One of the most enjoyable things about in the Critical Physiotherapy Network is the license it gives you to ask questions about the profession that other people might find ridiculous. There's a long history of the study of stupidity and idiocy in philosophy (see Shaw 2016, for example), and I'd like to think we make some small contribution to that with our Network. Look at our Objectives and you will see that it is part of our constitution to develop 'a culture & appreciation for the exploration of all views that deviate from conventional thought & practice in physiotherapy' (Object #4, link). So in the spirit of asking ridiculous questions, I'll confess that for some time now … [Read more...] about Why do things need to work?
Half the pain, half the gain
The subject of pain features quite a lot in these blogposts (see here, or here, for example). Not because the members of the CPN are particularly expert in matters pertaining to pain, or because its of any more clinical interest than, say, cerebral palsy. Pain is interesting, I think, partly because it's become such a popular subject in the profession, and members of the CPN are prone to asking questions like 'why this, why now?' In recent weeks a few social media feeds have explored, once again, how we might better understand pain, and improve on our assessment and treatment techniques. I've been struck by how almost all of these conversations are prefaced on the idea that pain is … [Read more...] about Half the pain, half the gain