April, 1957. P H Y S I O T H E R A P Y Page Three

Book Reviews ............................................................................................................................... Page 2

E ditorial ...........................................................................................................................................  Page 3

Hemiplegia in Children ..................................................................................................................  Page 4

Physiotherapist’s Responsibility ........................................  ..................................................... Page 7

Electrotherapy o f Paralyses (conclusion) ........................................................................................ Page 10

World Confederation ..................................................................................................................  Page 13

General and Branch News ................................................................................................................... Page 14

Situations Vacant Page 16

EDITORIAL

W
E are never too old to learn, nor must we 

forget that experience is the greatest 
teacher o f all, if we are prepared to learn by our 

experiences.
In Physiotherapy as in all walks of life “Basic 

Principals” are the fundamentals on which to 
build. Jt was once said

“ Study principals rather than methods; a 
mind that grasps principals will devise its own 
methods.”
How true a saying that is.

At training school and University we are taught 
the basic principals o f pathology, physiology and 
anatomy, o f massage, remedial exercises and 
rehabilitation, and of electrotherapy. It is only 
later, when we find ourselves having to rely on 
our own initiative that we realise how terribly 
important it was to have really absorbed that 
teaching in order to be able to apply the principals 
and thus devise a method.

Common sense, of which all of us have a certain 
amount, stands one in good stead, and that 
together with a thorough knowledge of the prin­

cipals underlying the cause and effect and the 
treatment o f the specific case in point, will enable 
one to see most difficulties through.

When we are first trained we must practice and 
follow our teachers implicity, until with experience 
we can start seeking new methods and employing 
new ideas for ourselves; we must never allow 
ourselves to jog along in the same old path, looking 
neither left nor right, taking no heed o f the march 
o f time and progress o f science. Often it is easier 
to carry on as one has done before, especially 
in a busy working day, but that is not drawing on 
our experience or expanding on our “ basic prin­
cipals.”

All Post Graduate Study is based on the prin­
cipals we learnt as students and young physio­
therapists. Having grasped those principals 
throughly we are then ready to absorb new ideas 
and apply those ideas in the most effective way. 
Everyone’s methods vary, be it the treatment of 
poliomyelitis, a chest condition or flat feet, but the 
basic principals applying to each is the same the 
world over and the aim is the same, though the 
method and approach may be entirely different.

R
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by
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gr
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by
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P

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(d
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