More than “Brain Fog”: Cognitive Dysfunction and the Role of Occupational Therapy in Long COVID, 2025, Skiffington and Breen

Of course, yes, but the author is clearly under the impression that 'orthostatic intolerance' is some physiological mechanism that explains something. This sort of pseudo explaining is at the very heart of the problem we have with BACME. Talking down to people from a position of complete ignorance.

 

Their electric systems are different to most systems in the west lower voltages .

 

It does look far better informed than average. However:

I have not seen any evidence that this rehabilitation approach is any good for most of the problems involved in those conditions. Concussions, especially, appear quite similar in ME/CFS in how there is such high confidence of rehabilitation approaches and exercise with strong attribution to imagined psychosocial dynamics, but zero reliable evidence. In recent years there has been a shift in the controversy placing everything on some PEM/no-PEM split, but as we know from the garbage heap of pseudoscience that makes up the evidence base for psychobehavioral rehabilitation, there is no actual difference. Even for generic chronic fatigue, no evidence exists to support the idea that this approach makes a significant difference in any other way than generically improving fitness, even though fitness does not equal healthy.

Maybe in the case of brain injury and nerve damage in MS, but even then it's very difficult to trust the validity of nearly identical research that shares similar methods and garbage methodology. But I wouldn't blame the authors for this. This appears to be "conventional wisdom" stuff that is widely believed as a core component of the profession and, as a result, not open to question. It's an axiom, it doesn't need to be proven or disproven, it just is true.

So I don't think we can reasonably make progress without addressing the root cause here, mainly being terrible standards and high bias in evidence-based medicine, because even in cases where someone would agree that it may not work with us, it's widely believed that it generally works, even though the evidence is just as poor. The idea is still that it should be beneficial in almost all cases, leading to the belief that it can't hurt, which makes it all too easy to not bother with the lack of evidence and simply go with "well, it's good for everyone so there's no reason it shouldn't be good for you".

 

I also note that they chose to publish in the cardiopulmonary physical therapy journal. Maybe to warn the physios off? But maybe not ideal.

 

I can indeed confirm that we Yanks still tend to typically use a kettle on the stove (though I do use an electric kettle here in the bedroom--and @alktipping's comment explains why it takes about as long as the stove). I met my partner, who is in the UK, online and the first time he heard the whistling of my kettle in the background during a call he couldn't figure out what it was. When I told him, he replied with "what are you, Laura f***ing Ingalls?!"

 

My stepmum had really bad arthritis which made lifting a kettle difficult .
She used one like this
https://www.uccellodesigns.co.uk/blog/the-ideal-kettle-for-those-living-with-arthritis/

 

I agree