The bodily anchor
Merleau-Pontys [24] ideas of the lived body illuminate and describe the taken-for-granted perception of being both body and soul in most moments. The subjective body is just “there” for us. We can never free ourselves from this embodiment, since the body connects us to or anchors us in the world [25]. Still, this anchorage may become lost during trauma, when the body is con- sciously or unconsciously disengaged, or as in the current study “switched off”, due to a natural reflex to protect the individual against trauma [26]. In a lifeworld perspective, we are our body and we experience our- selves, the world, and others through our lived, subject- ive body [24]. In the current study patients experienced that their body becomes an object in the world, some- thing alien, unfamiliar to the patients, as bruises, pain and stiffness are seen as invading the body. Being in a MVA may be a life-threatening, traumatizing experience and the meaning of the experience may be as important as the physical injury itself [27]. For Merleau-Ponty, we get access to other human beings and things in the world through the communicative and interactive en- counter, meaning that the world is something social [25]. In the caring encounter with caring touch in the current study, patients’ needs could be met, they were afforded an awareness of their bodies’ boundaries and got a sense of security.