Hi there. We hope we find you fresh and relaxed after a summer break, or perhaps you’re waiting until the school hols are over to take a break from it all.....
Things have been relatively quite here at the LMCo, as is the norm over the summer, except for Jane pouring her heart and soul into another successful sports injuries diploma. But on top of that she’s still had time keep Jake occupied over the summer with their usual choice of weird and wonderful
exhibitions........ get that kettle on!
Dig This
I can't seem to help myself. It doesn't matter where I am or what I'm doing, bones are at some point going to feature in my day. Even when I'm not working, not studying, not ruminating on anatomy, there they are, the inescapable evidence of life on earth. And so it was when I took young Jake to the Museum of Docklands to wander the three floors charting the history of the great river Thames and all that's connected with it. I'd been here many times before and, despite two rather impressive whale bones mounted on their ends like the entrance to a chapel, and a strange collection of fragile animal skulls in one of the curiosity shops that make up the wonderfully reconstructed and rather spooky Sailortown section, one can be fairly certain most of the exhibits pertain to the river, shipping, docking, docklands and life in and along this wonderful geographical feature, with little in the way of anatomy. There are coils of huge rope, barrels and barrel making tools, sacks of tea, spices, weights and measures, 'bum' boats and tunnels. But not many bones.
Yet here they were again. I was on my hands and knees scraping out the contents of a large archaeological trough, Jake and I having enrolled on The Big Dig, an activity to get people interested in archaeology. Jake was curious and excited, believing as many 10 year olds do that Indian Jones is the world's greatest hero and requiring constant reassurance that all of the booby traps have been removed from Petra. Whereas I had rather reigned myself to the activity, not particularly motivated to unearth pottery, albeit 1800 years old.
A lovely and knowledgeable archaeologist (Sarah) was in charge of Jake and I for an hour, and no sooner had we started to lift out the mud from our site when Jake found a bone...then another..then a bit of pottery...then another bone...and more pottery. So of course, curiosity got the better of me and as he trowelled away and the archaeologist asked questions and explained about Roman pots and pot firing methods and clay and tiles, I couldn't help but examine our osteological
specimens. We had quite a few sheep ribs, several vertebrae from a cow, two large cow tarsals, one large chicken femur, and four or five ulnar bones, which I think must have been from sheep too. There was even the bone from a dog, with its very thick compact wall, and everything worn to that smooth caramel coloured patena, hardened and preserved through time. All were genuine, 1800 years old explained our guide, common remains when digging in London.
Was there much unearthed nowadays in London?" I asked. She went on to tell us that most of her work involved working on building sites in London where she was called in to retrieve human remains that had been unearthed accidentally. Apparently this was very common and her job was to oversee the safe removal of the remains to the Museum of London where they were examined and reburied. But the work was not something that enthused the guide I could tell. Her thing was the Saxon period. I however, was thinking just how interesting it would be to work through a 'stack' of around seven bodies, carefully documenting them. It was noisy, dirty and very unsafe she said candidly, with the builders eager to start work. With a Saxon site you got a few weeks but with bodies just a few days. Aren't other peoples' jobs interesting?
Comparative Anatomy
"But it doesn't tell us anything we don't already know" moaned Jake as he and I wandered around the new exhibition, Exquisite Bodies at the Wellcome Collection. Was this because I'd been taking him with me to similar exhibitions ever since he was in a pushchair and he was jaded by such curiosities, or was there something in this comment? Here we had wax models that had been viewed rather voyeuristically when they were first created hundreds of years ago, women with removable shiny intestines and real hair, arms with strange skin lesions, that sort of thing. I got his point. This wasn't really about the teaching of, nor the acquisition of anatomical knowledge, it was simply a presentation of models that had caused intrigue, unrest and perhaps even distaste amongst viewers all those years ago, and Jake and I had seen it all before. So today we were the 21s century voyeurs. Walking around I was torn as to how I felt about this exhibition. On the one hand, I'm always grateful that any anatomical specimens in any medium are available to view by the public, grateful to institutions who aim to help de-mystify anatomy and bring it to a wider audience. And I always recommend the Welcome for their determination to bring science and art to the public in that respect. Yet on the other hand this exhibition seemed to lack a certain cohesiveness. There wasn't quite enough material and not quite enough to substantiate an exhibition. Perhaps we would have benefited from each model having slightly more explanation? Or for greater comment on their use? Or the process behind the making of the models themselves? Or perhaps I am being too harsh on the Wellcome. They don't make any claims for the exhibition other than to tell us that these are Exquisite Bodies . But is that enough? I wonder what any readers think?
Outside the gallery and snuck into a corner the museum had the Primal Pictures CD-Rom available for use. Now this really did excite Jake and for 45 minutes we sat together and tested our anatomy, he clicking on every part the virtual skeleton to highlight bones in different colours as I read out the accompanying text. He was genuinely intrigued that the the skull contained so many different bones, and went 'ergh!' on vomer and emthmoid for some reason, considering them nasty and peculiar shapes for bones to be. What a contrast to the wax models was this electronic aid. I wondered whether Jake's fascination was down to the fact that he had been born into a world of computers, it was no wonder he much preferred the interactive learning this CD-Rom afforded. Both forms of learning have their good points of course, both their bad points. I am waiting, as always, for the day when an institution puts on an exhibition with the aim of helping people learn anatomy. Something comprehensive, intelligent, useful. Sadly, the Human Biology exhibition at the Natural History Museum is now very dated, with huge chunks of certain body systems missing and a disproportionate amount on the brain, brain function and psychology. Nevertheless that particular exhibition goes some way to helping people learn their human biology and so must be commended for that.
Things We Think You’d Like:
// The Olive Cafe and Treatment Rooms, Wimbeldon Park, SW19, have an introductory offer on treatments rooms - £10 hour to hire. For more information contact Cathi Moore on 07932788650, or email cathi.theolivecafe@ymail.com, for all bookings and enquires.
// We’ll be at CAMExpo again this year. If you want to meet up for a chat, then be in touch and we can arrange a time. Jane will running taster workshops on - everyone’s favourite -
Soft Tissue Release, The Shoulder: Clinical Tips and Tricks, The Back: Clinical Tips and Tricks. For more info take a look at the CAMExpo site - www.camexpo.co.uk
posting bits and bobs as they occur - interesting articles that we find, new techniques we come across etc - anything, as usual, that we think the wider world of therapists may like.
// Zena Khan is running her 4-day Onsite Chair MassageOnsite Chair Massage course for Quntum Metta in September - for more details www.quantummetta.co.uk
Great news!
We are very excited to have been able to secure podiatrist and sports massage therapist Kevin Thomas to run a foot and ankle workshop for us on 12th December at the British School of Osteopathy.
Do you struggle to treat clients with foot and ankle problems?
Do any of your clients suffer from unstable ankles? Heel pain? Foot pain? Plantar fasciitis? Metatarsal stress fractures? Painful bunions?
Perhaps you would simply like to learn more about the kinds of conditions that affect feet, or foot and ankle anatomy, or whether orthotics really work, or how foot and ankle problems contribute to knee pain?
Contact us to let us know what you would like us to cover on our foot and ankle workshop and together with Kevin's expert knowledge we will put together a practical, interactive workshop for those of you interested in this much neglected part of the body. We want to bring you up-to-date information on the assessment and treatment of foot and ankle pathologies so if you are interested in learning more, please be in touch.
Best feet forward (sorry, couldn't resist!)
There are still a few places left for
Or if drop in for Individual days during the two weeks in October -
Mon 5th: The Shoulder
Tues 6th: Soft Tissue Release (If you can’t make 25th Sept)
Wed 7th: Hip & Thigh
Thur 8th: Muscle Energy Technique
Fri 9th: The knee - Half a day
Mon 12th: The Spine
Wed 14th: Elbow, Wrist, & Hand (again, this is a half day).
The assessments, tests and pathologies covered are all in the outline of the Sports Injuries & Sports Massage Diploma syllabus on our website:www.thelondonmassagecompany.com
Each full day £100, half a day £50
And last but not least:
// December 10th - The Skeletal System - We'll cover everything on the ITEC syllabus (2009) - Section 3, Unit 346, Knowledge of Anatomy, Physiology & Pathology for Complimentary Therapies, £20
Have you been on a Lymphatic Drainage course, or have you heard good things about a course or a tutor? If so then let us know. We’d like to run a ‘Guest workshsop’ on the subject but we need to find a great tutor. If you can help us then please drop us a line - Thank You!
Also we’re looking for people to volunteer for the next sports clinic day - October 15th - where you’ll be assessed and hopefully treated by the students. If you’d like to join us then please email us.
You know where we are if you’d like more information or to secure your place! See you next time round, and remember, if you want to share what you’ve been up to, write us a piece and we’ll put it here - it’ll count towards your CPDs too! Jane & Zoë
To subscribe to the Newsletter or see what we're up to inside the class room visit : www.thelondonmassagecompany.com or email us:
ask@thelondonmassagecompany.com
