The Conversation

I recently visited an 83-year-old patient in the hospital after EMTs rushed her to the ER with an infected leg wound. Her ordeal started inconspicuously when she bumped into the sharp edge of a table and developed a small cut. The patient’s wound didn’t close, but she ignored it until she woke up in pain […]

Undergoing any type of surgery is tough on the body, and even more so if it’s for serious conditions, such as cancer. But getting in shape before surgery – known as prehabilitation – can significantly improve patients’ recovery, for example by reducing how long they need to stay in hospital afterwards. We conducted a review […]

Over the past 20 years, static muscle stretching has gotten a bad rap. Once considered an essential part of any sport or exercise warm-up, static stretching has now been removed from the picture almost entirely. This move followed extensive research showing that static stretching — where we stretch and then hold the muscle at an […]

Around the world, there are an estimated 1.2 billion adolescents between 10 and 19 years old. Although adolescence lies between childhood and adulthood, adolescents are neither big children, nor little adults. They have increased food requirements to support their rapid physical growth and maturation. The steep increase in issues such as anemia, overweight and obesity […]

There is perhaps no better way to see the absolute pinnacle of human athletic abilities than by watching the Olympics. But at the Winter Games this year – and at almost all professional sporting events – you rarely see a competitor over 40 years old and almost never see a single athlete over 50. This […]

After many months in lockdown, a lot of us are finding that we’re experiencing back pain that we hadn’t been bothered by before. There could be many reasons for this, including increased stress during the pandemic, moving less and spending more time sitting in one position. But while you might think you should rest your […]