It is an old cliche, but there is rarely anything entirely new in the world, and sometimes some of the newest and most exciting innovations are merely reinventions of old ideas. Over the last few days, a story has appeared in the news of a young All Black rugby player who, only a few weeks ago, fractured his leg in a game. The story is newsworthy for two reasons: (a) the Rugby World Cup starts in a few days time, and (b) he is only being considered to be fit to play because of a rather unusual remedy. Waisake Naholo’s recovery from a fractured fibula has been reported widely around the world, because he chose to return to Fiji to be treated by his local doctor, Isei Naiova, who had … [Read more...] about New: Old ideas
Soaking
Over the summer, I worked with one of my students on a project to locate any signs of physical therapies (massage and manipulation, remedial gymnastics, electrotherapy, and hydrotherapy) in New Zealand during the 19th century. Although physical therapies were hugely popular in Europe and North America at the time, they appear to have been almost unused in New Zealand, which is surprising since the indigenous Māori population were known to use massage (mirimiri) and hot spring water for treatment, and the early settlers would have known and practiced these therapies too. It seems that New Zealand was much like a frontier settlement before 1900, with most people working in farming, gold … [Read more...] about Soaking
Critical Physiotherapy returns
If you're in the Northern Hemisphere, today probably marks your return to work day. For some in the South it should be holiday, so wherever you are I hope you had a relaxing and peaceful break. I stopped doing a lot of work-related things on the 19th December and am only coming back to it now in anticipation of an exciting year ahead, so apologies for the 'radio silence' over the last three weeks. It's been bliss. I stepped down as Head of Department at the turn of the year and start a six month sabbatical today, so I'll be doing a lot of blogging, reading and writing over that time (more about this in the next few days). I did, however, keep reading some of my favourite news-sites and … [Read more...] about Critical Physiotherapy returns