“Habit is either the best of servants or the worst of masters” Nathaniel Emmons
-
-
Pain And Emotion
Although mainly about the effects of emotion on reason, ‘Descartes’ Error‘ by Antonio Damasio contains a few fascinating nuggets on pain. He distinguishes 2 components to pain: Sensory perception from skin, mucosa, muscle, organ, etc. – the nerve endings stimulated in an area of the body lead to a ‘pain image’, a temporary representation of body…
-
Is Back Pain Genetic?
There’s been a lot of talk in the press (BBC, The Telegraph, Yahoo, Medical News Today, etc.) this week about finding the gene that causes back pain. So now back pain can be added to a host of other inherited conditions such as obesity, depression, cancer and diabetes. Before I give my opinion, I’d like…
-
Mindfulness Changes Pain
I read an interesting passage in ‘Mindfulness’, Ellen Langer’s insightful book on social psychology. “Patients are often certain that pain is inevitable in a hospital. Caught in such a mindset, they assume that, without the help of medication, pain cannot be controlled. In our experiment, we tried to learn whether people could control their experience…
-
Shaun
“I saw Gauthier after being involved in a major motorcycle accident and had big problems with my shoulder and thumb afterwards. I had restricted movement in my shoulder and weakness with my thumb and grip strength. Gauthier gave me a course of acupuncture and ultrasound which worked wonders. I was a bit sceptical about the…
-
Acupuncture NICE For Headaches
The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) has released its first clinical guideline on how to diagnose and manage headaches. It differentiates 4 types of headache: tension-type headaches, migraines, cluster headaches and medication overuse headaches. NICE recommends acupuncture as a treatment option for tension-type headaches and it says we should “consider a course of…
-
“All limitations are illusions“ Harry Houdini
-
“Man is disturbed not by things, but by the views he takes of them.’ Epictetus
-
BBC Horizon’s – Eat, Fast And Live Longer
Another great programme from BBC Horizon presented by Dr Moseley. He starts off the programme by following the oldest man to complete the London marathon…a 101 yr old sikh who is healthy and takes no medication…the typical 65 yr old european takes 6 pills a day! The centenarian attributes his good health to his diet…
-
Healthy Water For A Longer Life
Last year I wrote an article on hydration, the signs of dehydration and how much water we need to drink each day. We now know how much water to drink but what water is best? I found a great little book called “Healthy Water for a Longer Life” by Martin Fox. It reviews an extensive…