I often think that I was very lucky to have been given a classical physiotherapy training – with its focus on anatomy and physiology, biomechanics and kinesiology, objective testing and quantitative research. But this was enriched no end by being introduced to qualitative research early in the 1990s when it was really taking off in healthcare. Since then I've probably reviewed more than a hundred qualitative research articles and read thousands more. And in all that time I still come back to one simple test of whether qualitative research is any good or not. Whenever I review qualitative research article I ask myself is the study is telling me anything I don't know already. … [Read more...] about A recipe for bad qualitative research
Reflections on a tweet/Why I joined the CPN
CPN member Blaise Doran responded our call-out to members to write a short statement about why or how they have found their way to a CPN so we could use them as testimonials. However his response was so interesting (and too long for a testimonial) we thought it would work better in a blog post. Blaise Doran BSc (Physio.), GradDip (Neuro. Rehab.), MSc (Pain Mgt.) originally trained and worked in the UK. He is a physiotherapist and the coordinator for the Children’s Pain Management Clinic at the Royal Children’s Hospital in Melbourne, Australia. Previously he worked predominantly in adult neurological rehabilitation. Prior to undertaking his physiotherapy degree, he worked for ten years as … [Read more...] about Reflections on a tweet/Why I joined the CPN
Review of Barbara Gibson’s book ‘Rehabilitation: a post-critical approach’
There are a lot of physiotherapy books in print, but not many of them engage in the kinds of (post)critical thinking celebrated by the CPN. One exception is Barbara Gibson's superb Rehabilitation: a post-critical approach, published last year by Taylor and Francis. Earlier this week a new review of the book came out in the eminent journal Disability & Society. The review highlights the many radical and important features of the book, and celebrates Barbara's ability to 'extend[s] these discussions and bring[s] a critical eye to bear on concepts that remain under-theorised within the field'. There is a link to the review in the title of the journal above, but if you'd prefer, … [Read more...] about Review of Barbara Gibson’s book ‘Rehabilitation: a post-critical approach’
“Seated physios giving advice on exercise to patients over the phone” – a follow-up
I posted a tweet about a small bit of news from the Chartered Society of Physiotherapy (CSP) that had caught my eye yesterday. It was about 'A telephone assessment service in Cambridgeshire [that] is helping more than half of its physiotherapy patients to self-manage their conditions' (link to the full press release here). It featured an image that I thought was interesting and just a little ironic. Here is the image. My comment on Twitter was that this was 'a thing of postmodern beauty', and both the picture and the full report raised the ire of some in the Twitter community. There were a number of things going on in this report that I think said some important things about the … [Read more...] about “Seated physios giving advice on exercise to patients over the phone” – a follow-up
Wild bodies
Robert Macfarlane is currently one of the UK's best-loved non-fiction authors. His recent book Landmarks is a tour de force of physical and metaphorical walks through the landscape - literal and linguistic - of Britain's ancient physical language. In Landscapes Macfarlane writes about the word hoard that surrounds the 'islands, rivers, strands, fells, lochs, cities, towns, corries, hedgerows, fields and edgelands uneasily known as the British Isles.” (Link to The Guardian book review). I love Macfarlane's writing, not least because it's so physical. Reading a Macfarlane book is like an exploration into the language of the body and its interaction with the natural world. There are a … [Read more...] about Wild bodies
Capturing physiotherapy
One of the biggest challenges facing the physiotherapy profession, for much of its history, has been the necessity of defining what it is and what it isn't. Prior to World War I, masseuses struggled to show that they could provide a legitimate, trusted and affordable alternative to the poorly trained hacks, prostitutes and doctors who practiced a few rudimentary physical therapies. After WWI the focus shifted to being an ally to doctors in the development of rehabilitation. By the middle of the 20th century, definitions of physiotherapy became embedded in legislation that gave us access to publicly funded health care and some protection of title. By the 1960s, people were agitating … [Read more...] about Capturing physiotherapy
Critical things to do this week
Firstly, some of you will notice that things have been a bit quiet on the site this last 10 days. That's because we've migrated the whole shooting match over to a new paid site. We have a new look, new functions, and a much more stable site that, we hope, will be much nicer for you to use, and easier for us to manage. Huge thanks once again go to our good friend Sofia Woods from Shortie Designs for helping us with all the technical things. Our own Jo Bloggs will be posting more about the upgrade soon. Since we've been away for a few days, I thought it might be nice to recommend a few things to make your week a little bit more critical, because everyone should make time for at least … [Read more...] about Critical things to do this week