Transferring patients’s experiences of change from the context of physiotherapy to daily life

Abstract

Purpose: In the treatment of patients with long-lasting musculoskeletal pain, the challenge is to identify causal and sustaining factors and targeted treatment in order to improve function. Norwegian Psychomotor Physiotherapy (NPMP) is an approach often applied to patients with such pain. Long-term NPMP processes from the patients' perspective have been studied and discussed in the light of phenomenology of the body.The study purpose was to explore what kind of changes patients with long-lasting musculoskeletal pain experience during NPMP and further transfer into daily life context. Methods: A phenomenological, descriptive, and retrospective design was applied. Two focusgroup interviews were conducted with 11 patients receiving such treatment. The interviews were audiotaped, transcribed, and analysed inspired by Giorgi's phenomenological methodology.Results: The analysis resulted in an overarching structure: "To develop embodied ownership of oneself over time", and two themes describing the essence of change that the patients experienced: (1) "To get an embodied grip on oneself through treatment"; (2) "To give oneself space in daily life". Conclusions: Enhanced embodied self-perception involving a sense of embodied ownership and agency seemed to be important both to be aware of own bodily needs and to transfer changes from treatment into daily life. ARTICLE HISTORY

Embodied Knowledge – the Phenomenon of Subjective Health Complaints reflected upon by Norwegian Psychomotor Physiotherapy specialists

“…Treatment was directed toward an awareness of the way they reacted during interactions between themselves and others. It was essential to find a balance between activations of the sympathetic and parasympathetic systems in the process of improving patients' daily function (Dragesund and Øien, 2020;Dragesund and Råheim, 2008;Ekerholt, Schau, Mathismoen, and Bergland, 2014;Gard, Nyboe, and Gyllensten, 2020). Merleau-Ponty (2012) described the experiencing of sensorimotor processes as a very basic form of self-awareness, and a failure to experience any specific bodily reactions attenuates the possibility of connecting bodily experiences to daily life.…”

Efficacy of basic body awareness therapy on functional outcomes: A systematic review and meta‐analysis of randomized controlled trials

“…Whilst clinical practice and research is increasingly focusing on physiotherapy interventions improving the wellbeing in patients with chronic conditions (Ahola et al., 2021; Dragesund & Øien, 2020; Ekerholt & Bergland, 2021; Gard et al., 2020; Soundy et al., 2016), no meta‐analysis of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) investigating the efficacy of BBAT in ameliorating a wide range of functional outcomes and quality of life (QoL) is available to date. Previous reviews and meta‐analyses (Bravo, Skjaerven, & Catalan‐Matamoros, 2019; Vancampfort et al., 2014, 2020) did investigate a wide range of body‐mind therapies such as yoga, Tai Chi, qigong, or mindfulness‐based interventions but did not have a particular focus on the BBAT methodology (Skjaerven et al., 2019).…”