Holidays and other life changing things of clinical significance….

As we crawl into ‘holiday-season’ I often end up having some intriguing chats with patients, often with entirely opposite headlines.

One of the things I often ponder relates to ‘controlling the variables’. As part of the overall clinical picture we always want to know if/how much a patient is improving but the variables of life impact on what might otherwise be a more binary answer. If your symptoms are ‘the same’ but you managed to do XYZ without additional issues then can we claim that as a win?

So, when it comes to holidays, we generally hear one of two things:

• Scenario No. 1: "It was so much better when I was away!" This can usually be ascribed to the good stuff: less stress, no work, not being chained to a desk, zero chores, less screen time, more natural movement, and a total change of scenery (including different beds and sofas).

  
  

• Scenario No. 2: "It was so much worse when I was away..." This side of the coin is usually down to: an unforgiving hotel bed and pillow, less structured exercise, lugging heavy bags through airports, and spending hours on flat, solid lumps of wood or plastic in the blazing sun (I believe they call it sunbathing…).

  
  

In either case we can often use the response to the change (holiday) to inform the ongoing clinical picture but the real answer is deeper than that. Holidays are (and if not they really should) be a moment for introspection, reflection and discovery. Who hasn’t come back from some far flung land and tried to instigate a change for the better based on their experiences? What was it about the change and the break from the norm that felt good and useful and how can you weave that back into your day-to-day existence.

It may come down to a few simple elements- stress less, move more, eat well and enjoy yourself. So if you analyse why that trip helped (or hindered) with that issue (be it musculoskeletal in nature or otherwise) —then you can make informed decisions on how to move forward.

Essentially, life is just a grander version of rehab and recovery. Take stock of where you are, identify the things that help and the things that hinder, and then aim toward your goals. So, wherever life takes you this summer, make the most of it, enjoy yourself, and see what you can learn from the experience.