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Correspondence to Dr Jan Halák, Department of Philosophy, Palacky University Olomouc, Olomouc 771 47, Czech Republic; jan.halak@upol.cz
Introduction
This study critically analyses the theoretical framework currently used in physiotherapy and explains theoretical and practical benefits physiotherapy can acquire by drawing on phenomenological philosophy. Undoubtedly, physiotherapy is a practical discipline where practitioners interact with the concrete bodies of others towards alleviating their physical and experiential difficulties in coping with daily life requirements. Concrete physiotherapeutical interventions are largely based on physiotherapists’ practical know-how and experience. However, physiotherapists’ concrete interventions are necessarily grounded in general theoretical frameworks closely linked to the development of Western medicine and to our historically constituted scientific examination of the world. We address fundamental limitations of current theoretical understanding of the body and embodied action in the context of physiotherapy and explain how physiotherapy can be transformed by considering philosophical insights that are not commonly considered in Western medicine.
Several physiotherapy theorists have outlined how phenomenology and embodied cognition theories could be applied to physiotherapy. Consistently, our study describes how physiotherapeutical practices can be transformed by focusing on meaningful relationships with the environment at the level of movements and bodily postures. We elaborate on the concept of health as a relational or intentional dimension, as opposed to physical and psychological dimensions or their combination. In contrast to previous studies, we elaborate on Merleau-Ponty’s suggestion to understand embodied intentionality as a fundamentally dynamic phenomenon—that is, as a dimension that enhances or loses its structural organisation depending on different health contexts.
Beyond physiotherapy, we contribute to other domains of knowledge. We do not aim for a mere application of phenomenological insights obtained independently of science and experimental empirical enquiry; rather, we adhere to Merleau-Ponty’s approach to phenomenology, according to which the relation between philosophy and (natural-scientific) empirical investigation is fundamentally circular (Merleau-Ponty 2020, 112–113; cf. Zahavi 2019a, 129–131; Varela, Thompson, and Rosch 2016, 3–4). We thereby strive for a ‘mutual illumination’ of philosophy and physiotherapy (Gallagher 2003; cf. Gallagher and Zahavi 2020, 36–37; Zahavi 2019a, 132–135; in the context of medical humanities, cf. Scott-Fordsmand 2020). By analysing physiotherapeutical problems and situations, we elaborate on the philosophical and cognitive-scientific understanding of embodiment and extend the concept of bodily...