Welcome To Body And Bones!
Ever wondered why the British have chicken pox parties?
Realized that you know more about the “Bachelor” than your daily little “Pill”?
Been told that your blood type is B+ and thought that was just helpful life advice?
Well, welcome to Body and Bones.
Thirty years of University human biology teaching and decades more chatting with the non-scientists in my life has shown me that many people really want to know more about how their body works but that it’s not always easy to find that information in an easily digestible format.
Really?
Even with the almost infinite breadth of the internet and the best health care professionals?
Absolutely!
Because even great resources are only as helpful as the questions we ask, and creating the right questions is surprisingly difficult.
This problem started way back when we were in school.
We had teachers who could’ve answered our questions but it was pretty scary to raise our hand and show our ignorance wasn’t it?
Fast forward a few years, hanging out chatting with friends about Nick Jonas’ diabetes, Tom Brady’s paleo diet or Lena Dunham’s endometriosis, how many of us have stopped the conversation to ask what’s diabetes, what’s a paleo and endometriowhat?
By the way, news flash - most of the people giving the bar room Ted Talk, don’t know either, they’re just faking it!
If we don’t have enough basic understanding or confidence to craft and ask good questions, then the answers we’ll get from even the best of websites or the most caring of health care professionals, may well be more meh than marvelous.
But no need to give up the day job and become a science nerd – that’s my job!
Body and Bones is about helping find the big picture buried underneath the pile of facts – more “what are period cramps” rather than “name all the enzymes of the Krebs cycle”!
(But if you ever do want to dig in a little deeper, go to our Geek Out page where you’ll find additional, entertaining and nerdy stuff accompanying every post).
And whilst we’re going to be reviewing less content than my university students, I’m never going to tell you something that’s untrue.
Well, not on purpose.
Because I have to be honest here - science understanding evolves and it’s an absolute certainty that in the future, we’ll have to tweak some of our ideas.
In the past, maybe hilariously but definitely alarmingly, science and medicine have promoted the health benefits of radioactive energy drinks and cigarettes in addition to suggesting women shouldn’t run long distances because their uterus might fall out! Whilst I’m very confident that nothing I’ll post will be nearly as ridiculous as that, good science depends upon a willingness to carry out further experimentation. As we collect more data, if that increasing body of evidence starts to move us in a different direction then as good scientists, we have to have an openness to changing our understanding.
Just something to bear in mind and be very wary of any blog, website or even healthcare professional who doesn’t have that desire and ability to keep on reviewing their field and admit when knowledge evolves.
My aim for this blog is a really simple one.
I want everyone to understand just a little more about how brilliantly clever our bodies are. Forget your smart phone - we were born with a water-resistant vehicle that carries us through life doing its own upgrades as well as repairing itself when damaged, eat your heart out Apple!
But, I’m categorically, absolutely, definitely NOT here to provide medical advice.
However, when you do at some point have a medical appointment, I hope that at least some of what you discover here will give you the language to ask better questions and nudge that healthcare relationship from Doctor and patient, closer to Doctor and team mate.
So happy reading and send me comments and questions so I can make this blog as interesting and relevant as possible for you all!
