Find in Library

The emergence of Adapted Physical Activity (APA) in the medical world is studied through the lens of its normative references within two medical specialties characterized by their precursory and complementary roles: cardiology, as practiced in university hospitals, and diabetology, in health and social service networks. In this context, a normative tension appears between the aim of adapting the human organism to a controlled effort and the aim of developing patient’s self-normativity (adaptation versus adaptativity [Canguilhem, 1966]). This tension highlights the double challenge of constructing professional territory in APA while fashioning contemporary forms of governing bodily conduct.