Part of the "Pain and the Brain" series
I was recently thinking about a wonderful evening I spent in London several years ago. I was attending the Royal Society of Public Health Award Dinner, and it was a fantastic night. It was so wonderful to see all the great work that different charities and organisations do to improve the health of the nation.
However, there was one enormous highlight for me: the children from Breathe Arts Magic Programme were performing magic tricks for us at our table. These children all suffer with a condition called hemiplegia - paralysis or weakness on one side of their body - which can severely impact their ability to perform everyday tasks. The Magic Programme essentially took their physical therapy programmes and integrated them into magic tricks, which the children then learned, practised and performed. After only 2 weeks, the children were much stronger and more able to carry out their daily activities.