Adriane Vieira - 30 DoS - Day 6

Tell us a little about your current work and study, especially how you think and practice critically

My name is Adriane Vieira and I am an associate professor at a public university in the south of Brazil. Since my undergraduate studies, more than thirty years ago, I have had difficulty thinking of the body as an isolated, neutral and universal object. For me, even if the analogy of the body to the machine was useful, it was never enough to understand the processes that lead us to a state of happiness, health and illness. In the search for answers to my concerns, in a movement that led me in a different direction from my colleagues, I approached readings more linked to philosophy and social sciences.  On this path, I found inspiration to guide my professional performance and research, mainly in discussions aimed at embodiment from a cultural and phenomenological perspective.  

What is it about critical physiotherapy that appeals to you?

Despite considering that biomedicine and biomechanics are relevant to physiotherapy, they do not address many issues relevant to health work, such as social determinants of health, human interactions in therapeutic encounters, repercussions of different models of health care, and acting together with communities. The challenge of developing a more attentive and reflective look at the social role of physiotherapists and our choices regarding the production of health care. 

What do you bring to the CPN?

I bring the desire to share knowledge and work towards the construction and dissemination of broader perspectives for the profession, in order to articulate knowledge arising from the social science and humanities to the field of training and performance of physiotherapists. I still encounter a lot of resistance in the environment in which I work to propose new ways of acting as a physiotherapist and I have a lot to learn from the experiences of colleagues in the network.

How would you like to see the critical physiotherapy community develop over the next few years?

I believe that we need to work to expand the spaces for the production and dissemination of research and theoretical reflections, as well as a space for meeting and discussion so that we can advance in the construction of other possible paths for training and professional practice.

How would you like to see the broader physiotherapy profession develop?

I would like to see our profession engage more actively with new concepts of body and health, being involved with social movements, diversifying their practices and acting in a more contextualized and socially responsible way.