Every week for the last few months an ex-student has asked to meet me become they've become disillusioned with physiotherapy. Whilst its true that there's always been a steady attrition from the profession, the number of recent meetings, and kinds of recent conversations I've had with these people, seems surprising. Working through their personal experiences, their frustrations seem to stem from a desire to do more with the knowledge and skills that they'd acquired. This feeling is often compounded by a sense that the 'system' is preventing them from being the therapist they really want to be. Many want to do further postgraduate study so that they can broaden their horizons. … [Read more...] about The great migration (away from physiotherapy)
On openings and closings, choice and change
From Brian Massumi, via Mary Zournazi, via Prof Liz Smythe Zournazi, M. (2002). Hope. New philosophies for change. Annandale, NSW, Austalia: Pluto Press. … [Read more...] about On openings and closings, choice and change
More on the measurement of pain
Neil Maltby's excellent blogpost yesterday (Algorithm is going to get you) was a refreshing reminder of some of the odd things we do in the name of science-based physiotherapy. Neil's post was about how we look for pseudo-scientific measurement of things that otherwise can't (and shouldn't) be measured. I've blogged about this before (see here, for example), and complained bitterly about our lack of sophistication when it comes to subjective phenomena like breathlessness, pain, loss (of functional ability), etc., that are the bread-and-butter of everyday life for working physiotherapists. No-one ever wakes up in the morning with a bad headache and says "Wow, I've got a really bad … [Read more...] about More on the measurement of pain
Translating pain (reblog)
This blogpost was published recently on noijam.com and I thought it might be interesting to point people to it. Seamus Barker is a physiotherapist who also completed a BA in Social Theory and Literature. Seamus uses critical theory and continental philosophy in his work and is currently completing a PhD at the University of Sydney's Centre for Values, Ethics, and the Law in Medicine. Last week I had the pleasure of presenting at a conference at Monash University in Australia, convened in partnership with Warwick University in the UK, entitled Translating Pain: an International Forum on Text, Language and Suffering. One of the central questions asked by the conference was whether … [Read more...] about Translating pain (reblog)
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
Critical physiotherapy research update
Lived Observations: Linking the Researcher’s Personal Experiences to Knowledge Development Lisbeth Thoresen & Joakim Öhlén As researchers in palliative care, we recognize how involvement with seriously ill and dying persons has an impact on us. Using one’s own senses, emotional and bodily responses in observations might open intersubjective dimensions of the research topic. The aim of the article is to highlight how phenomenological theories on intersubjectivity can be useful to develop rich and transparent data generation and analysis. We present three field note examples from observation in a hospice ward, which illuminate how researcher awareness of aspects of intersubjectivity can … [Read more...] about Critical physiotherapy research update