Politics. A topic that will always instill debate, discussion, and perhaps even social revolt. It seems like there is a political slant to everything these days. Health care and fitness ... aren't any different. There is always a lobbyist pushing for the rights of some special interest group - regardless of the point of contention or discussion. It seems we're becoming more fragmented in the way we live - and think - in our world today.

If we all truly believed that self-care and "wellness" were the way to go forward with our health "care" system (and I use this phrase loosely), then we'd have to admit some deep-seated issues and incongruities in our professional lives.

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This would have to be my word for the week:

"Incomprehensible:
–adjective: impossible to understand or comprehend; unintelligible; impossible to know or fathom.
-synonyms: baffling, bewildering, obscure."

I guess it all started off with the slayings at Virginia Tech. An event like this is simply not within our comprehension. There aren't many people that can say that they truly understand the magnitude of the suffering, anguish, or horror. As I've heard said before - "not until you've walked a day in my mocassins".

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A "mentor" is defined as "a wise and trusted guide and advisor". Perhaps this sounds like a crazy idea - but if we have sports coaches and life coaches, what about health coaches? Or better yet, let's put the right slant on it - because, as they say, perception is everything - and call them health mentors. Is this not what we need in the world of health to foster competent self care?

Yes, there is a need for health "care" - and health care providers. That will always be the case. But examine the medical problems faced by our society today. Obesity. Heart disease. Diabetes. All are issues that would benefit significantly from a different approach to health. These are conditions that either have a significant "preventative" aspect or that benefit tremendously from straightforward education and lifestyle changes. They are also conditions that are putting a tremendous strain on the health care system - and that strain doesn't look to be getting better any time soon, especially with an aging populace.

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April 4th came and went this year ... and it amazes me how little was said about it. I asked my class why the date of April 4, 1968 was important. No response. In some ways I wasn't surprised - and in others, I was mortified.

Here's something to think about - a Canadian that can recite the date of Martin Luther King's assassination - and why we all should care.

It befuddles me how this can be so far removed from the national psyche. King - perhaps the greatest civil rights leader of our time, the man who forged the speech from August 28, 1963 containing the stark lines "I have a dream", words that could speak to so many across all racial borders - forgotten?

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I was originally exposed to the concept of the SAID Principle, or "Specific Adaptations To Imposed Demands", via exercise physiology. From a cellular perspective, this simply means that the tissues of the body, be they muscle, bone, tendon, cartilage, or ligament - adapt to the demands imposed upon them. For example, weight bearing activities foster an in crease in bone density, and strength training fosters muscular strength and power development. Both are examples of very specific adaptations that the human body makes in order to adapt to the demands placed on the system.

But all cells respond to stimuli.

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Have you ever seen the movie "What The Bleep Do We Know"? It is a metaphysical journey into quantum physics - by way of our own life experiences and how we perceive reality. It is truly an adventure - in the sense that it addresses a journey we all experience - in parameters that perhaps we just don't realize or at a magnitude we can't even comprehend.

In many ways, it's about life being so much more - and so much less - than we envision. In the grand scheme of things, we are but a perceptual conundrum, a conglomeration of cells ever-changing in a stew of homeostatic mechanisms. We are just a bunch of electrons, protons, and neutrons - a cloud of electrical charges separated by huge chasms of virtually empty space and nothingness. There is so little true "matter" to our being, but we perceive so much more. We live on the quantum edge - of reality, of living, of experiencing, of perceiving, of existing.

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It's like the heavyweight championship of the orthopaedic physio world ... and I can just hear the ring announcer now ...

"In this corner, wearing the white trunks ... from various authorities worldwide ... weighing in at 180 pounds ... 'Manual Therapy' ...

"And in this corner, wearing the blue trunks ... the challenger ... also weighing in at 180 pounds ... hailing from New Zealand ... 'Mechanical Diagnosis and Therapy' ...

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