Traveling Material↔Semiotic Environments of Disability, Rehabilitation, and Physical Activity

In this article, we apply narrative dialogism and new materialism to health research. We examine how material↔semiotic environments (MSEs) affect the rehabilitation process of Patrick, a man who exercised with the aim to recover from spinal cord injury. The MSEs are considered embedded subcases within the overall holistic case of Patrick. Three MSEs were identified: the hospital gym, the personal gym, and the adapted gym. These are examined using the analytical lens of assemblages. First, the mutually affecting components of each MSE are described. Second, a larger environmental assemblage is identified, which is termed exercise-is-restitution assemblage. This composite assemblage illuminates the associations between the three MSEs, and reveals how restitution resonated across time and space. The article contributes to the literature by reconceptualizing restitution. It highlights the importance of the materiality of health-related narratives, and it reveals the potential of MSE for transforming rehabilitation and improving exercise promotion and maintenance.