Body schema and body image disturbances in individuals with multiple sclerosis

Abstract

This chapter argues that the concepts of body schema and body image can deepen our understanding of individuals with multiple sclerosis (MS) and can advance our conception of the physiotherapeutic process. Experiences of agency and body ownership are closely connected to body schema and body image and relate directly to the self-experiences of individuals with MS. The chapter argues that the concept of self-pattern provides a way to integrate these different factors. Sensorimotor disturbances in persons with MS compromise body schema and can disrupt various elements of their self-pattern, including pre-reflective experiential, reflective, extended, and intersubjective factors. On this view, movement analysis, handling skills, and clinical reasoning within physiotherapy can be recontextualized. Specificity is particularly important in this context, as sensorimotor functions are cornerstones of intentionality and an individual’s perceptions of affordances in daily life and are not merely neurophysiological processes, as conceived in traditional views on physiotherapy.