The misuse of the term ‘therapy’ in science, education and in many areas of services may border on 'anti-therapy'

Abstract: Such a radical formulation of the problem requires at least the most general premise. It seems that the dominant factor is the tendency of individuals and even very large social groups to succumb to, among other things, various fashions – ‘fashionable directions of research’, ‘fashion for specific fields of study’, ‘following the fashion of the era’, etc. The appearance of such and similar slogans on social media, in marketing and in common social communication is not surprising. Semantic liberalism in a similar style in the field of science and education leads to justified criticism. In principle, the social orientation of the connections between the practice of physiotherapy and psychotherapy is common, not only with the scope of impact on individual spheres of personality – in the first case, physical (more closely related to body structure and motor skills), in the second, with the mental layer. It is probably also common to associate psychology (with numerous sub disciplines and scientific specialties) as the direct scientific background of psychotherapy. It is no longer certain that most people know that although there is no scientific discipline of physiotherapy, there are scientific disciplines that provide the knowledge and skills necessary in this profession. Therefore, it should not be an exaggeration to emphasize that without confirmation of these competences by appropriate exams, it would be impossible to formally recognize the qualifications to practice as a physiotherapist. However, in the social space, there are many more word combinations with the word ‘therapy’ that can confuse even people who understand the listed subtleties of psychotherapy. These include: art therapy, hippotherapy, judo therapy, music therapy, etc. Of the listed terms, ‘judo’ seems to be the most recognizable, but as a combat sport, and such associations should be expected to be common. Meanwhile, ‘judo therapy’ is a synonym for sekkotsu – the traditional Japanese art of bone-setting (is a type of folk medicine in which practitioners are engaged in joint manipulation – traditionally, they practiced without any formal training in accepted modern medical procedures). Since this is the tradition, it is rather about treatment, not therapy. More pronounced paradoxes are associated with the term ‘music therapy’. Among the benefits of music therapy there is pain-reducing. However, there is clear evidence that many instrumental musicians after 35 years of practice require ongoing interventions by a physiotherapist or orthopaedist. In this paper, we provide empirical evidence for innovative music prevention in the context of violin teaching. Pain diagnosis and immediate pain-reducing interventions are conducted before, during, and after the lesson. In this way, we attempt to resolve the paradox of ‘eliminating pain through music therapy at the expense of the instrumentalist’s pain’.

Keywords: INNOAGON, judo therapy, music prophylactic, music therapy

DOI: 10.54941/ahfe1006480

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