ANATOMY AND PHYSIOLOGY IN THE TEACHING AND PRACTICE OF PHYSIOTHERAPY AND OCCUPATIONAL THERAPY

WE consider that insufficient thought has been given to the teaching of anatomy and physiology to students of physiotherapy and occupational therapy. It appears that more and more of the student's time is taken up in learning details of crafts and techniques instead of in acquiring a sound knowledge of the functioning of the human body on which the intelligent use of these crafts and techniques is necessarily based. Indeed, anyone studying the syllabuses for these specialties might gain the impression that they were designed for a potted medical course. Although the status of physiotherapy and occupational therapy has increased considerably during the last fifteen years, there seems to be no clear sense of direction. More and more crafts and techniques are being added to the armamentarium of the therapist with the danger that she will become a highly skilled technician with but a superficial understand-ing of the rationale on which these are based. At present there is even a tendency for the occupational therapist to fit the patient to the craft rather than the reverse, and for the physiotherapist to use procedures which lack a sound scientific basis. We suggest that the time has come to assess the situation, as those engaged in this work have had enough time to acquire adequate experi-ence but insufficient to be set in their ideas. Now is the opportunity for determining whether something can be done to improve teaching and practice. It seems to us that, broadly speaking, these specialties are concerned mainly with the rehabilitation of those suffering from disorders of the locomotor system, and it is with this aspect that we wish to deal. In this respect the two branches are entirely complementary and should not be separated as they so often are. Each is concerned in improving muscle power, increasing the range of joint movement, and re-establish-ing co-ordination of locomotor function irrespective of the methods used. If this be agreed, then there is every reason why the teaching of the basic sciences should be the same