Critical Physiotherapy: A Ten-Year Retrospective

Date
2023-09-09
Authors
Nicholls, DA
Ahlsen, B
Bjorbækmo, W
Dahl-Michelsen, T
Höppner, H
Rajala, AI
Richter, R
Hansen, LS
Sudmann, T
Sviland, R
Supervisor
Item type
Journal Article
Degree name
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Informa UK Limited
Abstract

Critical physiotherapy has been a rapidly expanding field over the last decade and could now justifiably be called a professional sub-discipline. In this paper we define three different but somewhat interconnected critical positions that have emerged over the last decade that share a critique of physiotherapy’s historical approach to health and illness, while also diverging in the possibilities for new forms of practice and thinking. These three positions broadly align with three distinctive philosophies: approaches that emphasize lived experience, social theory, and a range of philosophies increasingly referred to as the “posts”. In this paper we discuss the origins of these approaches, exploring the ways they critique contemporary physiotherapy thinking and practice. We offer an overview of the key principles of each approach and, for each in turn, suggest readings from key authors. We conclude each section by discussing the limits of these various approaches, but also indicate ways in which they might inform future thinking and practice. We end the paper by arguing that the various approaches that now fall under the rubric of critical physiotherapy represent some of the most exciting and opportune ways we might (re)think the future for the physiotherapy profession and the physical therapies more generally.

Description
Keywords
Critical physiotherapy , epistemology , lived experience , ontology , post , social theory , 4201 Allied Health and Rehabilitation Science , 42 Health Sciences , Generic health relevance , 1103 Clinical Sciences , 1106 Human Movement and Sports Sciences , Rehabilitation , 4201 Allied health and rehabilitation science
Source
Physiotherapy Theory and Practice, ISSN: 0959-3985 (Print); 1532-5040 (Online), Informa UK Limited, ahead-of-print(ahead-of-print), 1-13. doi: 10.1080/09593985.2023.2252524
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Copyright © 2023 Taylor & Francis. This is a preprint of an article whose final and definitive form has been published in the Physiotherapy Theory and Practice and is available online at: www.tandfonline.com with the open URL of your article (see Publisher’s Version) .