Diagnostics in Physiotherapy Á Processes, Patterns and Perspectives. Part I

The aim of this two-part article is to present some of the major findings of and conclusions in the author's doctoral dissertation on physiotherapeutic practice. The study represents an attempt at increasing our knowledge about the diagnostic process in physiotherapy and to make explicit the basic assumptions, classificatory schemes and explanatory models underlying it. First encounters between patients and physiotherapists in natural settings were observed and video-recorded, supplemented by interviews of the participants. Three categories of physiotherapists participated, manual, psychomotor and visiting therapists and randomly selected patients. Part I contains a critical discussion of dominant assumptions in Western conceptions of the body and disease, and presents alternative ways of thinking which have profound implications for clinical work. It is argued that is essential to understand diagnostic activities as fundamentally interpretative and interactional processes. Moreover, the author accounts for the material and methods used in the study. The analyses, part II on pages 151-162 of this issue, show that the variety in the practice was considerable, and the patterns between and within the three categories of practice were consistent and salient. Following the presentation of the findings, the author discusses and contextualizes them in light of the theoretical perspectives outlined in Part I. This study demonstrates how practice and the way of thinking can differ among physiotherapists. The author calls for renewed reflection on actual practice, and for approaching the diagnostic process as an active interpretative enterprise.