Communication: What happens during the first encounter between patient and physiotherapist?

Abstract

First encounters between patients and physiotherapists have been video-taped and analysed as part of a research-project. Emphasis was on both functional assessment and patterns of interaction. Three groups of physiotherapists participated; manual therapists, psychomotor therapists, and district physiotherapists. The three groups used different approaches when examining their patients. Thus they conveyed different messages of content, roles, and relationships. Commonly, communication is discussed and analysed separately from diagnostic and therapeutic activity. Rejecting such separation, it is argued that it is important to highlight the way in which physiotherapists relate to their patients through their professional actions. The focus in this article is the implicit communication in the physiotherapist's examination. For physiotherapists, as for doctors, the body is the basis of their work. It is emphasized that it is especially important to discuss the body in connection with implicit communication. © 1990 Informa UK Ltd All rights reserved: reproduction in whole or part not permitted.