The sensation of movement.

This week I have been thinking about the sensation of movement.

Any physio will tell you that the key to controlling our body's movement is dependent on being aware of the feeling of where our bodies are and what they are doing. The interaction of our senses and our movement response to them is very complicated and amazing. The really interesting thing is that we completely take our senses for granted, that is until something goes wrong. 

In the pool last week I was talking to the teaching staff about sensation and how out of control we can feel when suspended in water with no solid surface to touch or hold on to. All our usual reference points have gone. Gravity is significantly reduced so the weight through all our joints is far less. Buoyancy is a new force which is adding another layer to our sensory experience. So if the way you sense the world is different, as it is for children with autism, then what does being in water feel like? Some of the children, who have complete control over their bodies on land, cling on to the side or their helpers as if their life depended on it. I'm not surprised it must feel very frightening for some. In an unexpected turn of events we found that a pair of glasses seemed to make a big difference to one little child!

I wonder if elite athletes, dancers and acrobats have particularly sophisticated sense of movement allowing them to control their movements and train and hone their bodies more than the rest of us? How do you do synchronized swimming?!

This week is half term so a bit of paperwork. Friday I'm off to Portsmouth to assist a colleague and then I'm attending a course I first took in 1996 - time to renew!

To do

• complete CV
• enjoy half term!

Thank you x.

Lots of things on my mind.

I do like Salvador Dali's art, there's a lot to it. I think this is called Exploding Head?! Its rather beautifully exploding isn't it?

I've been thinking about women and the eternal struggle we seem to face just to be accepted as being equally valuable in this world. The girls in Nigeria, innocent victims in an unfathomable and cruel - I don't know the word to describe what they part of except to say its atrocious and the sad and disappointing sexist remarks from Richard Scudamore and even more sad Premier League verdict (what is funny though is the standard of football played by the England Ladies team is fantastic and great to watch whereas I can't remember the last time I saw a great mens game). Its all been on my mind. I'm quite sure Mrs. Pankhurst and all the other Suffragists would be deeply saddened at how little attitudes have changed. I don't think I'm a feminist but I certainly have my views on the matter. I love Women's Hour on radio 4 and I recommend it to anyone who has an interest in living in our world. A few years ago I found a book by Sandi Toksvig (she makes me laugh a lot) called Girls are Best. It's pink so you can't miss it and it is dedicated to "the work of the womankind charity" - very clever! It is full of the women (many unknown) who invented things, achieved things and contributed to the evolvement of the human race. Its a brilliant reference book to have in the home just to keep a bit of balance.

Unbeaten in qualifying for the World Cup...Girl Power!

The interesting thing about disability is that whether you are a girl or a boy is irrelevant. Please don't get me wrong, I don't mean it is unimportant but it does not predetermine an expectation, the disability does (this is to be considered at a later date as its too important for me to write about without gathering my thoughts more).  As a physiotherapist I was taught that each person is unique and a person in their right. I absolutely believe this and it means that everyone has to have a specific treatment approach especially for them. This week I have given up on mascara (still waiting for samples to arrive) and spent time working towards the same goals with the children in the pool. You wouldn't believe how many different ways there are to get used to water on your face or to blow bubbles! I have employed all sorts of tactics with a range of results, although plenty of laughter and more than a little water everywhere - I even got my hair wet! Yes, thats how dedicated I am to these children (not getting my hair wet is an old joke amongst some of my colleagues and clients, not that I ever found it that funny!). 

Finally, back to football, I played in a football match on friday night. I did. The Mum's took on the oldest girls team at our club and we did ourselves proud. We had several shots at goal and were narrowly defeated 2-1. We were great. And, just to note, the men managers played the oldest boy team and they lost 6-1 - food for thought FA and Premier League. I had 'footballers leg' the day after but its a small price to pay for glory!!

This weeks to do list

• read
• write
• improve IT knowledge

Thank you x 

Focus

The first thing to say is that I need to do some serious research into waterproof mascara as I forgot how wet you get when working with children in the pool!

The second thing to say is that its worth it! 

Many of the children I am working with have been diagnosed with an 'autistic spectrum disorder'. I am not going to attempt to explain what that means (mainly because I can't) except to say that these children experience the world differently to those of us without that diagnosis. Hearing, vision, touch can all be interpreted in ways that can be so different to what is 'expected' that communication is extremely complicated. Fortunately I am helped and guided by the teaching staff who work so hard to understand their charges, but I would love to be able to find a way of really understanding whats going on in the minds of the children and not to feel so inadequate. I am hoping a smile truly is a sign of happiness - I think it is? 


On the subject of happiness and to the title 'focus', I attended a conference on friday organised by a fellow Physiotherapist, Dr. Heather Epps, entitled Added Value - improving outcomes for children with cerebral palsy and brain injury. It was an excellent day with speakers from the fields of law, science, physiotherapy and education. The problem with attending days like this is that I get so enthusiastic about what everyone else is doing and I really want to do everything they are doing and I don't know what to do first that it all swirls round in my head and I can't focus on anything for days - I could really do with Professor Dumbledore's Pensieve so I can put my thoughts into some sort of order!!


I had the pleasure of meeting Heather and Prof. Vish, a professor in paediatric exercise physiology, both really driven people and very inspiring - they gave me even more to think about!! 


I have now had a few days to think, or at least calm down a bit and I am more focused. I am and have been for a long time, very disappointed with our society's treatment of the children and adults with a disability something the conference confirmed has not changed and neither has my frustration. We seem to be brilliant during and immediately after the birth of a child but as soon as that baby is discharged home from hospital the support available to them and their families is pitifully inadequate. Ethicists must have something so say about the situation surely? There are fantastic professionals out there (therapists, rehabilitation engineers, social workers, teachers, carers, nurses and many others and I include myself in this group) but too few and completely unable to provide the care they know is needed. It is demoralising and insulting as all the research proving 'best practice' is being ignored. What are we doing?! Anyway this is a big question and I can't solve it but what I can do is my best for a few. So having used my virtual pensieve, my initial plans as a self employed physio have been consolidated. Hooray!


So this weeks to do list 

• sort out new mobile phone contract
• finish all presentations, profiles and other paperwork I have started
• investigate access to research papers and set time more time aside to read papers
• make time to think
• await free waterproof mascara samples from manufacturers who have read this blog... (you never know!)

Thank you x

PS I have stopped the 'chapters' bit of the title as I got confused.

Chapter 1 continued: Assistants and future Olympians

Well its been all go this week! I have spoken to many people about being self-employed including a very nice man at the Inland Revenue and I may have sorted out a pool to work in. At the school pool I have been assessing what the children can do in the water which involved lots of pieces of paper and brain work and I really wished I had a bit of assistance. 

I do miss working with a physio assistant. I have had the privilege of working with some amazing people over the years who were brilliant, supportive, caring and very good to me. In the beginning there was Helen, Marion and Sue, more recently T (who bought me this fish because she said it pouted like me and has named it Vicky..... she thinks its really funny!)

And most recently 'Eddy' who has looked after me really well for the last couple of years and sends brilliant text messages, some of which I understand! If I held an awards ceremony I would present all of them with a big award with my sincere thanks.

Colleagues and clients will tell you that I mention entering the Olympic Games a fair amount (not me, my clients). I do find anyone who enters a sporting event inspiring. My Dad completed the London Marathon 5 times, the last time only a few months before he died and my husband ran it the following year in his honour. I watched each time and I was absolutely exhausted from all the emotion, cheering strangers on, seeing all the charities they were raising money for and trying to encourage the people who found it more of a challenge but who nevertheless did not give up. I guess I feel an enormous amount of pride for my fellow humans who commit to achieve some sort of physical challenge.

We all know how important exercise is for our health and well-being, but it is those who find sport following and injury or use sport as a way of being independent that I am most inspired by.

We have amazing ambassadors and role models for all sport and the fact that TV coverage of major parasporting events is improving is great.












(I think Boris is great). 


Physiotherapy, being all about movement, links very closely with sport. I worked out very early on in my career that physio needs to be fun and not torturous and if it can be combined with a sport or similar activity eg dancing it can be. This is especially true for children. When I took on my first senior role in paediatrics all the children on my caseload hated physio and were almost traumatised at the thought of coming! So I made it my mission to change their minds and make it more fun. With the help of Helen we came up with all sorts of ways of getting the children to do physio including star charts, challenges and, with the full support of parents, bribery! We made it our business to work with school teachers to use PE as a way of delivering physio treatment and we used physio sessions to train for school sports days. These are the worst days of the school year when you are not as physically able as your classmates. We asked the teachers which races a child would be competing in and the smile a child had when for the first time they did not come last and they knew that they had worked hard and achieved something for themselves just made our hearts burst. 




Thats why I'm a physio. and I think there was less trauma involved too.





Aquatic physiotherapy is a lot of fun too. To be able to move and control our bodys movements in water where gravity (which is far less than on land) and buoyancy act together with the properties of water takes a lot of skill. To use the water to help someone learn to move, to get stronger, to learn to swim, to access exercise and to even be completely independent for the only time in the week is a very special job to have. I love the water and the opportunities it offers. This week I will be in the water beginning to work with the children and their teachers and I will be on the look out for a future Olympian who will need to take their physio with them to all events....

To do

• start learning about tax...
• buy very waterproof mascara.

Thank you x