The Gender Divide: Boxing and Headgear
Since I wrote this stuff in a Facebook post, I might as well put it in the blog for posterity. OK… watching boxing at the 2020/2021 Tokyo Olympics has me curious. Why do the women have helmets, and the men don’t? The answer can be found here: https://globalsportmatters.com/health/2019/08/27/aiba-drops-headgear-male-amateur-boxers-female-fighters-wear-them/ TL, DR in selected quotes: the AIBA […]
Critique: Pandemic! A Winter Intensive.
Yesterday was the last day of our Winter Intensive (a whole semester’s worth of material crammed into two weeks) called Beyond Chaos – Critique: PANDEMIC! According to the course description from convenors Prof. Desmond Manderson and Dr. Nick Cheesman, it is “not about the Coronavirus pandemic itself. It is, rather, a response to it. The […]
Exercise and Dance in Parkinson’s Disease (PD)
In the last blog post, I discussed how Parkinson’s disease can affect function, i.e., how you get through the activities of your day. In this post, I tackle how exercise – as part of a rehabilitation program – helps in Parkinson’s Disease. Rehabilitation in Parkinson’s disease is goal-based. What does that mean? It means that […]
How does Parkinson’s Disease affect function? Or, why can’t I do what I used to do?
What is Parkinson’s disease? I do not want to reinvent the wheel, so I’m going to direct you to this very good explanation from the Mayo Clinic and the Parkinson’s Foundation. How does rehabilitation help? While rehabilitation cannot make Parkinson’s Disease go away, it can help by improving function and enhancing quality of life. To […]
Trans-Pacific Education in Rehabilitation Medicine during the COVID-19 Pandemic
It’s been a busy two months with Rehabilitation Medicine education! Let’s start with the clinical field I am most passionate about. The Philippine General Hospital Department of Rehabilitation Medicine is celebrating its 50th year as a department with Insights: Looking In & Beyond, a monthly webinar series of special topics in Rehabilitation Medicine. I had […]
On Gender and Musical Instruments
I saw this article from The Guardian yesterday on female percussionists, or the lack thereof. I guess it’s a good one to look at for Women’s Month (International Women’s Day was March 8). Out of curiosity – as I do with a lot of questions that suddenly pop into my head – I decided to […]
Reflections on Reading the Literature: A Challenge in Straddling the “Soft” and “Hard” Sciences
Last Monday (February 22, 2021) was the first day of school, for the first semester of the academic year – marking the beginning of the second half of this “two year expensive sabbatical from clinical medicine”. Yes, this one. Structurally, a lot of the subjects I am enrolled in are centered on reading journal articles […]
Inclusivity and disability in the news this week
I saw several pieces in the electronic media this week that highlight the growing efforts to include persons with disability in everyday life. The European Space Agency put out a call for astronauts with physical disabilities – a push for parastronauts to be included in the entering class of 2021. In its own words, the […]
COVID-19 Vaccines for ALL
If poor countries go unvaccinated, a study says, rich ones will pay. That’s a piece originally from the New York Times, and picked up by multiple news outfits internationally. My thoughts: Control the virus first, and the economy will follow. The economy concerned is not confined to one location. Each location or community is dependent […]
Penguin Bloom, the Movie
Confession: I first did not want to watch this movie because I felt it would be too much like work, because its protagonist has a traumatic spinal cord injury (SCI). But curiosity got the better of me. I also knew there was some healing (psychosocial, not physical) involved, so that would make it some form […]
