Venla Oikkonen

Medical technologies such as ultrasound or MRI scans and manual techniques such as palpation and pelvic exams are used in clinical practice to visualise the inner spaces of the body and to evaluate the emergence of pathological changes. Thi…

Abstract An ongoing shift toward multidisciplinary pain care and growing emphasis on non-pharmaceutical treatment are reshaping the parameters of how chronic pain is assessed and treated. The article explores these ongoing changes through a…

Multimorbidity, meaning multiple long-term conditions impacting a person's health, has become a rising societal and public health issue. The article contributes to the sociological study of chronic illness and multimorbidity by analysing ho…

This article explores how acuteness is experienced by people with endometriosis in Finland. Drawing on in-depth interviews as well as anonymous written endometriosis stories, we trace instances when the sense of chronicity and cyclicality o…

The article explores menopause as a feminist question through a chronic gynaecological illness: endometriosis. As endometriosis is an oestrogen-associated condition, menopause is expected to alleviate endometriosis symptoms, yet its unfoldi…

Endometriosis is a chronic illness often treated with hormonal products, such as oral contraceptives or hormonal IUDs. As many hormonal products have side effects, and both side effects and effectiveness can be unpredictable, people with en…

The article examines the possibilities and limits of patient advocacy-led health technology design through a case study: a non-commercial mobile self-tracking app developed by a Finnish patient organization to advance medical care and resea…

This chapter explores how two ongoing societal changes, personalization of medicine and increasing digitalization, are shaping endometriosis activism. The analysis draws on in-depth interviews with members of a gynaecological patient organi…

The article explores how sensations of pain are turned into embodied knowledge in endometriosis, a chronic gynaecological illness characterized by persistent, possibly paralysing pain. While previous studies have shown how people with endom…