Like most people, I'm still feeling the shock of Donald Trump's US presidential election win last week. Once all the dust has settled, and people have started to face up to what has been called the 'post-truth' era in politics (see this or this), there will have to be some real soul searching about what this all means for the future of our societies. Big issues like environmental degradation, personal security, tolerance for others, and health, will play out alongside more 'local' issues like paying the weekly bills, dealing with family problems, and managing our busy lives. Amidst all this 'noise' its worth reflecting on something subtle but highly significant about this recent … [Read more...] about Trump, Brexit and physiotherapy
New: Truths
One of the inescapable realities of modern life, or should that be post-modern life, is that we have all become skeptical of authority figures that want to tell us that they know the answers, and that we should follow them compliantly, passively and unquestioningly. There once was a time when people genuinely believed that the church, judges, the police, school teachers, parents, doctors and other authority figures genuinely knew best, but our trust in these authorities has been eroded by scandals, self interest and injurious practices. And while some of us yearn for a simpler time when the world was black and white, we can’t erase the image of child abuse by Catholic priests, medical … [Read more...] about New: Truths
Physiotherapy and the zone of play
I'm doing a public lecture next week on physical therapies in the 19th century (you will be able to see a live feed or delayed broadcast of it here if you're interested in hearing about it), and the whole project has been fascinating. One thing that occurred to me doing the preparation for the talk was how many images there are of people sitting in mud baths and hot springs. There was never any real proof that these things did anything other than warm you up, but there was a lot of anecdotal evidence that they were used to treat all sorts of diseases, from syphilis to sciatica, asthma to psoriasis. Suffice to say, in 19th century New Zealand, hot pools were a natural phenomenon, … [Read more...] about Physiotherapy and the zone of play