Background: Fall-related injuries in older adults are a major health problem. Although the aetiology of falls is multifactorial, physical factors are assumed to contribute significantly. The "Timed up and go test" (TUG) is designed to measure basic mobility function. This report evaluates the association between TUG times and history of falls.

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What counts as relevant and valid information in a diagnosticcontext? A descriptive analysis of a first encounter from physiotherapy practice provides the background for a proposed response to this question. The encounter took place between a therapist and a patient suffering from muscular tension. It exemplifies the employment of dimensions of experience and knowledge other than those ordinarily accepted by scientific medicine. Prevailing notions of the body and the traditional distinction between 'objective' and 'subjective' knowledge are considered against this background. It is suggested that the tacitly accepted separation between the physical body and human experience be superseded by a new understanding. Conversely, the prevailing correlation between 'patient/ symptoms/subjectivity' and less valid information on the one hand, and *clinician/signs/objectivity' and valid information on the other, is shown to be counterproductive. Verbal and bodily information are not categorically different, belonging to the separate worlds of *res extensa' and *res cogitans'. In real livesand real bodies -they are complementary. It is argued that more complex interactional forms are better suited than standard diagnostic procedures to understand and deal adequately with patients' often complex ailments.

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Drawing on findings from physiotherapy practice, this article discusses several interrelated concerns that are highly relevant for health care research: How do professionals constitute their very object--"the body"--and what are the connections between professionals' views of the body, their approaches to it, and patient participation? By providing a comparative analysis of two first encounters in physiotherapy, where patients' musculoskeletal disorders are assessed, I show how variously physiotherapists can practice and reason. One therapist is guided by assumptions deriving from the biomedical sciences, the other by an understanding of the body as the center of experience and field of expression. I show that the status clinicians ascribe to the body has important implications for what kind of information they regard as relevant, and I argue that the diversities accounted for provide unequal possibilities for collaboration and patient participation. I sum up by calling for more comprehensive studies of clinical practice in natural settings.