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Wenche Bjorbækmo's avatar

Interesting question. Keep on such questening

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Rico's avatar

This makes complete sense to me, as someone highly experienced in getting injured! I've had plenty of physio over the years as a result of footballing injuries, and the results vary. However, what became very clear to me in ageing, is that I never really understood what I was being asked to do, and why. The instructions were usually about the technicalities of the injury (ruptured tendon, ligament, meniscus etc), and the exercises that would help, and the program of exercise. However, there was nothing about the feeling of the injury, and nothing about the feeling of normality (once healed). I walked with a limp, through habit, for a long time (despite still playing football!), because it was never pointed out to me that I was compensating for a previously broken leg now healed. It wasn't until I did some Alexander method "lessons" that I really got what I was doing wrong, and learned to fully pay attention to my body and catch myself in poor form.

That said, I'm not suggesting that physios had to have experienced a broken bone or torn ligament. It does strike me that the ones I so, though, had no particular connection to their body, no lived awareness. Neither was it their passion, which I think is probably more key. Like me in my dreary office work, when a subject becomes professionalised, process driven, systematised and simplified, I expect many just walk through it, and follow the steps and motions and instructions required of the job - they see it as a job. There's no philosophy, no deep thought, no revision and study, simply that abstract notion that jobs give us - it pays the bills. Perhaps that's why psychotherapists are required to "mental health" themselves. To ensure that they have that depth of thought, and continued curiosity. I suspect that psychotherapy tends toward the philosophical and depth of thought, compared to the technical and scientific of physiotherapy. Or, at least, you can likely spend an entire career in physiotherapy concentrating solely on the technical and scientific side of things (ignoring things like the placebo effect, the effect that stress can play in injuries and healing and other such things).

Anyway, I'm rambling, hope you get me. I'm just a guy who has been injured a lot, and who enjoys reading your blogs (not quite sure who they sneaked up on me if I'm honest!).

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