Body concept from the perspective of physical therapists: a critical phenomenological research

Abstract

The human body, throughout history, has been the object of study of several areas of health sciences, which present discourses about its use and way of existing. This study comes from an excerpt from a master’s thesis that aimed to understand the body view for physical therapy professionals. The critical phenomenological method was used with the triggering question: “tell me what body is for you.” The study had the theoretical perspective of Merleau-Ponty’s phenomenology. Some professionals described a perception of body focused on physical and biological aspects, contemplating this object at times as structure, at times as a means of locomotion, or even as a machine that serves as a shelter for different stages of life. Others considered the body as a whole, that is, from an integrality that goes beyond the mechanistic notion. However, when faced in the practice with aspects outside this model, professionals find it difficult to deal with this, due to an academic training that does not consider divergent ways of understanding the body. The need for a greater discussion of the concept of body in physical therapy is emphasized, especially on those aspects linked to notions that go beyond the biologizing normativity.