What’s all this about Thorsday?

It’s been about 10 weeks now where we have been putting videos up on Thursdays with the title of “Thorsday”. These videos are pretty short – generally less than 2 mins- and feature Tim demonstrating a movement or an exercise that people can do at home, around the house or garden. They don’t look particularly challenging, the production standard is not high, what exactly is he doing? My initial thought for “Thorsday” was essentially that although we all KNOW we should be doing some kind of strength training each week, it can get lost in the barrage of “other stuff” … Continue reading

Thorsday 1

As ever, I’ve been wondering about how to get information out to people who need it, rather than wait for them to have an issue and see if they come for physio. This is in direct continuation of a previous post about “Inevitable decline?“- or trying not to become weaker as you get older.  Intervention is much better than reaction, and so I came up with the idea of Thorsday. A weekly focus on Strength work- handily on Thorsday (or, Thursday, if you prefer). The idea is that over the next few weeks and months I’ll post up a video … Continue reading

Inevitable decline?

I hit a “significant age” in 2019. This, along with the people I see in clinic on a weekly basis has made me think a bit…. If I gave you a list of things that in 20/30/40 years you might not be able to do – would you be scared? Well, here is a list of things that I’ve seen people not be able to do…. Sitting on the floor and then standing up. Standing up off a chair. Standing up off the toilet. Walking up the stairs. Walking down the stairs. Walking to the end of the road. Walking … Continue reading

Enfeeblement and Robotic Legs

I’ve been seeing some things being bandied around on the internet recently – robotic exoskeletons to enable you to ski for longer and springs that you put behind your knees to enable you to stand up for less effort. I got a little incensed about this, mainly because of what they have in common – a lack of strength, continued atrophy of muscles, and the potential enfeeblement of the human body. (Don’t get me wrong – exoskeletons/replacement limbs for paraplegics and amputees are a good thing – I’m railing against something else here.) It might seem like a lovely idea … Continue reading

Falls vs walking. Risk/reward?

I had the same piano teacher since I was 7 until I was 18. She was already retired then. Until recently – as I approach my 40’s she was still stomping around the globe, going on holidays and generally enjoying life, and was the epitome of the active elder generation. Earlier this year I received news that on a recent winter cruise she unfortunately contracted pneumonia with diabetic complications. And this, in her mid-90’s. Luckily she had some excellent family support around her and was recovering well, her main preoccupation was to “escape the nursing home”. My dad was one … Continue reading

Inevitable decline?!

Following on from this podcast I listened to recently (a BMJ interview with Scarlett McNally and Muir Gray, orthopedic surgeon and Public Health doctor, on Exercise in Old Age), I thought it might be nice to read the actual document it was based on, and maybe try to summarise it. Everyone can listen to the cast, but not a whole lot of people are going to pay £23 to read a 4 page document…but information access is a topic for another day. So – what did the analysis say? Well – the headline of the whole thing was this: Dramatic … Continue reading