It’s a particular treat and privilege to be asked to treat newborn babies. Their “newness” is beautiful in itself, possibly because in that moment they show most clearly the miracle of how we all come into being.

There’s nothing I like more than a “knotty problem”. Something that’s been there for while, won’t go away, keeps coming back to bother it’s poor “owner”, perhaps to the point that it’s stopping them from doing what they really want to do.

If you’ve ever had the misfortune to injure a spinal disc, you’ll know what an unpleasant and acute pain it gives and how unrelenting it can be in the early stages. People say the pain is 8,9 or 10/10 in terms of how bad it is.

I’ve seen a number of patients recently who are being challenged to breathe better by their pregnancies. The hormonal changes of pregnancy affect breathing rate and lung resistance, while the physical changes of pregnancy (as the uterus rises up in the abdomen) also affect lung capacity and the angle of the lower ribs.