In her 1989 book ‘Simians, Cyborgs, and Women,’ Donna Haraway critiques the prevailing categorical division between scientific medicine and cultural norms. Despite the 30-year period, Haraway’s writing is highly relevant to modern-day healthcare practice, which is predominantly because of the enduring legacy of hegemonic western medical practices. Through her examination of the intersection of power ..read more

If we were to examine our reality within healthcare, we would perceive, bring our attention to, form memories and recall certain bits of information to develop a knowledge framework. We can describe this to be the ontological (reality) and epistemological (knowledge) positions that form our world view of healthcare, and to a larger extent our ..read more

It’s been a while since I blogged about complex regional pain syndrome. I’ve just finished an article for New Zealand Massage Magazine and wanted to share it with my wider readership. Where the article does have a massage focus, there are many professions that continue to use massage in their day to day practice, including ..read more

Pain is an enigma, a double-edged sword that can both cripple and enlighten. It lingers in the deepest corners of our being, often shrouded in ambiguity, and yet it has the power to evoke profound clarity. Its presence creates a palpable uncertainty, challenging our perception of reality and pushing us to the brink of madness ..read more

In part 1 of this series, I explored the enduring legacy of biomedicine and its obscured view of the body, and how this view reduces the human and the body to objectifiable matter. To understand the enduring legacy deeply, I proposed using a state of ecological curiosity to explore three perspectives that perpetuate the legacy ..read more

Having returned to study in 2023, over the next few weeks I will be sharing my recent assignment in a 3 part series. The assignment is a reflective piece of my thoughts about the persisting view of the biomedical body in pain and physiotherapy practice. In this piece of work I offer 3 perspectives that ..read more

What do physiotherapists think of when they think about curiosity? Why would physiotherapists care or even need to think exclusively about the word? It can be argued that Physiotherapy is a profession that has harnessed curiosity since its genesis in the late 19th century. Curiosity itself has been compared to the inherent behaviour of hunger ..read more

Much of the evidence supports the view that opioids when used under close monitoring, treat acute pain and are to be taken over the short term. I understand the oral administration of opioids is no longer than 15 days within a 3-month period. Undoubtedly, there is limited evidence to support opioid use in the treatment ..read more

Body-as-machine In this two part series, I’ll be exploring the legacy of the body-as-machine metaphor and then explore an option to view the metaphor in an alternative conceptual way. If I were to ask physiotherapists about what words underpin our identity as healthcare professionals, I would expect to hear “health, the body, movement and rehabilitation ..read more

For some time now I’ve been reading a lot about curiosity. I’ve been exploring curiosity from various fields such as philosophy, medical science, psychology, social sciences, education, art and communication; not an exhaustive list at all! Curiosity really is a fascinating area of study. Commonly defined as an eager desire to learn or know about ..read more