What does work mean to physiotherapists? A recent article in the journal Qualitative Health Research highlighted some of the different meanings of work for 12 women with cancer (link). One of the most interesting findings from the study was that there were many different kinds of work experienced by the women, including “illness work, body work, identity work, everyday work, paid employment and/or the work of maintaining income, and coordination work”. When you include things like the work of breathing and professional work, you have a concept that is both at the heart of physiotherapy practice, and yet almost entirely un-theorised. Work has a particularly interesting history, … [Read more...] about Different kinds of work
What do Pixar movies and physiotherapy have in common?
A post by James Douglas July 15, 2015 on The Awl website last week titled 'The Pixar Theory of Labor' (link) made some interesting connections between the ethos of Pixar movies (Toy Story, Wall-E, Brave, Monsters Inc., and the new Inside Out, for example) and a productivist culture. What was really interesting for me reading this post though, was how much Pixar's movie motives are shared by physiotherapists. Douglas's thesis (and it's well worth reading the whole piece because it's very funny as well as being very insightful), is that Pixar trades on characters that are striving to achieve; Pixar has created a stable of films for children that is founded on narratives of … [Read more...] about What do Pixar movies and physiotherapy have in common?