Embodied-enactive clinical reasoning in physical therapy

Authors

Gunn Kristin Oberg, University of Norway
Britt Normann, University of Norway
Shaun Gallagher, University of WollongongFollow

RIS ID

100813

Publication Details

Oberg, G., Normann, B. and Gallagher, S. (2015). Embodied-enactive clinical reasoning in physical therapy. Physiotherapy Theory and Practice, 31 (4), 244-252.

Abstract

Clinical reasoning is essential in physical therapy practice. Instrumental approaches and more recent narrative approaches to clinical reasoning guide physical therapists in their understanding of the patient's movement disturbances and help them to plan strategies to improve function. To the extent that instrumental and/or narrative models of clinical reasoning represent impairments as mere physical disturbances, we argue that such models remain incomplete. We draw on a phenomenologically inspired approach to embodied cognition (termed "enactivism") to suggest that the dynamics of lived bodily engagement between physical therapist and patient contribute to and help to constitute the clinical reasoning process. This article outlines the phenomenologically informed enactive perspective on clinical reasoning, with special reference to clinical work that addresses impairments as sequelae of neurological diseases.