Spend any time thinking about innovations in practice, research, education or ideas and you come up against the problem of how to break the mold. There are all sorts of barriers to overcome if you are going to be truly, radically, innovative. Many people find the idea of change unsettling, others might be skeptical that real change ever happens. Others may be perfectly happy with how things are and ask why we would want to 'fix' something that isn't broken in the first place. Then there are regulatory restrictions and customs and practices that purposefully place limits on what can be said and done in the name of physiotherapy, medicine, dentistry, etc. Innovation, by definition, … [Read more...] about Innovation in physiotherapy
Extended members
One of the things I like most about the CPN is that its doing some pretty big things (international collaborations, book projects, a WCPT Focused Symposium next year, etc.), but its still small enough so that you get to see what other people are doing. And some of the things other people are doing are incredible. Anna Rajala, for instance, has been a CPN member since the early days, and during that time has been writing and teaching about history of medicine, mental health, disability, and political and moral philosophy. She's done a masters degree in philosophy, politics and economics of health and her dissertation on Hegel’s dialectics of recognition and ethics in dementia was awarded … [Read more...] about Extended members
Karen Yoshida – The normality of doing things differently – 30DoS #17
This book chapter is part of an important text within Canadian Disability Studies. Rethinking Normalcy: a disability studies reader edited by Tanya Titchkosky and Rod Michalko (2009). This is the first Canadian disability studies reader from a variety of interdisciplinary perspectives and draws on primary Canadian but also some international scholars. The critical perspectives in this book examine not only dominant views of disability but interrogate what is meant by normal. The specific chapter makes clear that different bodies, in different spaces engage in the world in various ways that are not seen as “normal” by abled-bodied conventions but are usual to those who see themselves as … [Read more...] about Karen Yoshida – The normality of doing things differently – 30DoS #17
Målfrid Råheim – The Social Body – 30DoS #8
Crossley claims that sociology has not solved the philosophical puzzle of dualism, which means that questions of embodiment have not been worked through satisfactory in order to understand agency, identity and the nature of social practice. In The Social Body (2001) he discusses these issues by focusing on the sensuous nature of human perception, emotion and desire, and the corporeal basis of agency, communication and thought. Habit and embodied practice are core concepts in his discussion, heavily grounding his arguments in the phenomenology of the body, and in sociological theory which includes the body. He claims that the notion of habitus (Bourdieu) is not working without a deeper … [Read more...] about Målfrid Råheim – The Social Body – 30DoS #8
Why do things need to work?
One of the most enjoyable things about in the Critical Physiotherapy Network is the license it gives you to ask questions about the profession that other people might find ridiculous. There's a long history of the study of stupidity and idiocy in philosophy (see Shaw 2016, for example), and I'd like to think we make some small contribution to that with our Network. Look at our Objectives and you will see that it is part of our constitution to develop 'a culture & appreciation for the exploration of all views that deviate from conventional thought & practice in physiotherapy' (Object #4, link). So in the spirit of asking ridiculous questions, I'll confess that for some time now … [Read more...] about Why do things need to work?
Is it time to end the tyranny of evidence based practice?
Perhaps the greatest mind in the entire history of the world - well in my estimation anyway - once argued that it is the the things that are the most obvious and seemingly benign that we should focus all of our critical attention upon, because these are the things that are doing the best job of concealing the immense power that allows them to become so seemingly obvious in the first place. (If you hadn't realise already, that man is Michel Foucault). Well of all the seemingly obvious, taken-for-granted and largely unchallenged ideas currently pervading physiotherapy, evidence based practice must surely be one of the most obvious ideas needing critical scrutiny. Fortunately, a few … [Read more...] about Is it time to end the tyranny of evidence based practice?
It’s difficult to innovate in the NHS
The title of this post comes from a recent story on the CSP's website, celebrating the success of a physiotherapist, Lucy Cassidy, who took the main prize at this year’s Advancing Healthcare awards. Her prize was for the development of a virtual fracture clinic at Brighton and Sussex University Trust. In responding to the prize, Lucy commented that "It’s difficult to innovate in the NHS because of financial constraints, and entrepreneurship is often about trying to find a win-win situation with the private sector to support new services." This got me thinking about why it is that the public sector should so often be thought of as such a moribund place for innovation and … [Read more...] about It’s difficult to innovate in the NHS