Wondering HAND Doc

Do you every wonder where discomfort comes from? Is it a perfect representation of what is going on in the body? Does pain mean your tissues are damaged? Does hunger mean you are low on nutrients? Does thirst mean you are low on water? Does lower abdominal discomfort mean your bladder is full, and if so, how long can you safely wait before addressing it? Or maybe you don't wonder these things. So often the process goes seamlessly without much thought. In her book Seven and a Half Lessons About the Brain, Lisa Barrett points out that a drink quenches our thirst immediately, while it takes about 20 minutes for it to exert its physiological effect in the body. If we take the lack of thirst to mean the body has what it needs, how do we account for that time gap? Could it be that we have simply REASSURED our mind that the need is in the process of being addressed? - - - When a runner gets a twinge of knee pain during a jog, how certain can she be of what this means, and perhaps more imp...

Welcome. I'm an "injured" musician turned wondering hand doctor, on a quest to understand what the hell happened to my hand function. The way we process sensation and movement is an utterly fascinating topic that I engage with on a reflective, experiential, philosophical, and practical level.  If you haven't yet noticed, the mind is an integral part of this experience. I am grateful to those who put their primary efforts into primary research, statistics, and scouring every piece of relevant scientific literature. I am particularly grateful for those who bring these data together to be digestible by many others.  While these activities are an important part of my job, I seem to get more kicks WONDERING about them. I have decided to enter this discussion using the best of what I have to offer: My personal and clinical experience, my proclivity for reflection and questioning. Science needs the right questions and people to focus on what is not being noticed enough. Scie...