18/12/2025
“An individual body can be healed, and it can become healthy. But it can’t necessarily be optimised; it’s not a machine, after all. I think the same holds true for the social body.”
Jenny Odell (1986 -)
This is a relatively short newsletter as midwinter draws near – unfortunately, the mail system I normally use for such purposes is causing problems and will need to be changed in January. Sigh. Reflecting on the year is an obvious thing for most of us to do, should we be given some time and space in which to do it. Working with people in pain, with people who are bringing their suffering, uncertainty, and worries into a clinical space, and in doing so are entrusting someone to help lighten their loads, is not something I take lightly. Pain, people, and the society and environment in which we live are too complex and messy for simple answers to apply in all cases. I feel a strong moral imperative not to pretend that there are one-size-fits-all approaches to the phenomenon of pain, but to continually engage with the body of science looking for better answers and approaches, or at the very least to be less wrong about certain things. The most critical components of our health can be key aspects of how we nudge our bodies and systems though the experience of pain and injury: movement, nutrition, rest, and meaningful connection with others. Those others can be human and non-human, communities with which we laugh, cry, and break bread, the tree under which we walk, the crow soaring over a running trail.
I have just finished reading Jenny Odell’s 2018 book ‘How to Do Nothing: Resisting the Attention Economy’ and while the title may imply that the work should be situated on self-help shelves, it’s a compassionate piece of writing which has been informed by a deep understanding of multiple philosophical traditions. Critiquing some of the utopian myths and movements of the past, Odell stresses the importance of building neighbourhoods centred around the core ideas of bioregionalism. Rather than a hyperindividualised approach to addressing problems in society (many of which pertain to health and pain), it’s a call for meaningful engagement with each other and the natural world to build collective engagement and shifting social change. It’s a timely read – I am currently leading a small research group in developing a scoping review on the potential for community based nature restoration projects to function as mental health management strategies. Access to nature can influence our health in myriad ways, and may be one of many paths through which people working in collaboration could create spaces and opportunities for those struggling with pain and health issues to explore movement and play. Odell’s writing helped to clarify several lines of thought which I couldn’t quite put together on my own. If you are looking for a book enriched in hope, it may be a gift worth giving for the readers in your life.
I write this because I know that there can be a tension between individual actions (lift the weight, eat the salad), and systemic factors which influence health (air quality, housing, healthcare systems, etc). I don’t believe that they are mutually exclusive, and want to continue to explore both to best serve the people who entrust me with their care. I write to reflect on how profoundly grateful I am for people’s openness, patients who pour forth details about their lives, colleagues who I can reach out to for advice, the countless researchers devoting their intellectual energy to unravel fragments of mysteries of pain, health, and the body. I owe each and every one of you my thanks. I wish you a very happy and peaceful Christmas. And hope for a new year.
I will be on leave from Tuesday the 23rd December until Monday the 5th of January. During this time, I will have limited access to work emails, but if you are dealing with an urgent situation, please get in touch.
