This message comes from CPN members Barbara Gibson and Jenny Setchell - co-editors of the new Critical Research and Perspectives section of the Journal of Humanities in Rehabilitation. Dear Friends and Colleagues, Please consider submitting an article to the new section on Critical Research and Perspectives in the Journal of Humanities in Rehabilitation. For those of you who don’t know the journal, it is an online, open access, no fee, multimedia platform for research, scholarship, art, literature, and narrative that bring the perspectives of the humanities and social sciences to all things rehabilitation. The Critical section is devoted to research and ‘perspectives’ that draw … [Read more...] about Submit your work to the new Critical Research and Perspectives section of the Journal of Humanities in Rehabilitation
A call for critical papers
The Journal of Humanities in Rehabilitation’s new section, Critical Research and Perspectives is dedicated to publishing papers and other works that employ critical perspectives on rehabilitation. The creation of this focused section of JHR presents an exciting opportunity to showcase rigorous critical rehabilitation research and scholarship. See the full call for papers here. We seek submissions that explore the application of critical, post-structural, or postmodern theories (broadly defined) to advance understandings of rehabilitation—including original research, think pieces, and theoretical discussions of the philosophical basis of rehabilitation practices, education, and/or … [Read more...] about A call for critical papers
Leaving (physiotherapy) home
I had a lovely conversation with some colleagues from Tromsø University's School of Physiotherapy on Monday night after my keynote to the Norwegian Physiotherapists' Congress. Having talked about 'The End of Physiotherapy', they asked me a question I seem to be getting asked a lot now. "So" they said, "what's the answer ... what's the future for physiotherapy?" Now it's an absolutely foundational principle for me that it's not my place to tell people 'the answer' (as if there could ever be an answer). And that's partly because I subscribe to a Foucauldian approach to critical thinking that says you don't replace one bad hegemony (or dominant way of viewing the world) with another. But … [Read more...] about Leaving (physiotherapy) home
Keith Waldron – Rejecting Medical Humanism – 30DoS #29
In this post, physical therapist Keith Waldron Jeffrey Bishop's article Rejecting Medical Humanism. In this article, published in 2007, Dr. Bishop writes eloquently of the metaphysics of medicine, referencing the works of Nietzsche, Foucault, Heidegger, and Deleuze, and how they relate to today’s biopsychosociologisms. He puts forth a compelling argument against the use of the humanities and narrative medicine as an add-on, or a compensation for the mechanisation of medicine. He writes of a continued dualism that no longer distinguishes the body from the mind, but instead focuses on the dichotomy between meanings and mechanisms. Dr. Bishop reflects on the ever-increasing emphasis … [Read more...] about Keith Waldron – Rejecting Medical Humanism – 30DoS #29
Evidence based medicine: why are we even debating it?
This post comes from CPN member Carley King. Carley is a physiotherapist who has developed an interest in evidence based medicine during her Masters in Clinical Research. Here Carley reports on the recent debate on the value of Evidence based medicine at the CSP Congress. Spoiler alert: I’m not sure that evidence-based medicine (EBM) as we understand it at the moment is fit for purpose. That’s my bias out in the open! But on hearing this opening line, I couldn't help but allow a small part of me to wonder if it was ridiculous to even consider an alternative...a very clever debating ploy there! As the debate progressed, it became clear to me that there were some key issues … [Read more...] about Evidence based medicine: why are we even debating it?
New: humanities
Although it’s going to be hard to accept, particularly by those people currently striving to make a difference in the profession, but it probably won’t be this generation of physiotherapists that bring about the radical change necessary to prepare the profession for the new world of 21st century health care. There are any number of reasons for this: Physiotherapists are, by and large, a relatively conservative bunch, who don’t instigate radical change Physiotherapy is highly respected and well patronised, so there are few indicators that we need to change much Most people in positions of authority have received a traditional training, and tend to like things the way that they are, … [Read more...] about New: humanities
The social construction of pain
äMedicine convinces us that we can understand the human condition biologically. Pain teaches us otherwise. Pain, as we know it today, bears all the hallmarks of a subjective phenomenon that can only be understood by the person experiencing it. Yet even this belief has a history; a history that is closely tied to the genealogy of the physiotherapy profession. Tony Ballantyne has explored the way pain became a vehicle for social reformers after the 17th century, shaping many of the health and social welfare reforms that were to follow. Ballantyne argues above that pain narratives were a powerful way for humanitarians to promote the belief that the state should take responsibility for … [Read more...] about The social construction of pain