I don’t know where this memorable and marvellous metaphor came from but I have been using it since a post grad manual therapy degree in 1985. It seems to have spread around the world. When a patient leaves the clinic if motion is lotion is all they remember, then in many cases, it is probably an adequate summary of what I want them to learn. It implicitly links movement to health and it inspires healthy imagery – I think of coconut sunblock lotion and beaches!

Motion is lotion is an example of functional knowledge – ‘know how’ knowledge that an individual can use to inform action and change behaviour. But in order to offer functional knowledge to patients, therapists need a deep base of declarative knowledge, this is the more detailed, more technical understanding of a topic – you could also think of it as content, or the kind…