A quick question, to which I'm sure there is probably an easy answer: I've heard it said many times in recent years that physiotherapists in private practice should be confident enough to charge what they think they are worth, and that people only truly value something if they have to pay for it. If which case, isn't this just another form of placebo where people gain additional benefit because they've paid more? And isn't that at odds with the idea of evidence-informed practice? … [Read more...] about Is there such a thing as a payment placebo?
Why pain? Why now?
I've been puzzling for some time why it is that chronic pain seems to be so much in focus for physiotherapists at the moment. For many years, chronic pain resided along with depression, rheumatoid disease and cerebral palsy as one of the many 'Cinderella' disorders and syndromes that physiotherapists in the public system endured (though had little remedy for), and those in the private system indulged, whenever someone could afford to pay for the treatment which was lengthy and, at best, marginally effective. Then, a few years ago, people like David Butler, Louis Gifford and Lorimer Moseley began writing about the neuroscience of pain and it seemed practitioners began to … [Read more...] about Why pain? Why now?
The sociology of everyday
People often think that philosophy and sociology are concerned with grand ideas like hope, suffering, the meaning of existence, and what it means to be good. And while it can be about these things, it often concerns things that are commonplace, everyday and quotidian (a lovely word, meaning occurring everyday, mundane and repeated). The latest special issue of the journal Sociology (link) is devoted to the study of everyday life and asks some really interesting questions that we can use in our thinking and practice of physiotherapy. In the guest editorial, Sarah Neal and Karim Murji argue that, 'In many ways, it is difficult to overstate the significance of the everyday because it is, … [Read more...] about The sociology of everyday