Jeopardy, computers and back pain mean body therapy professions will grow
A computer named Watson recently beat two Jeopardy champions, leading experts to project there will soon be no mental tasks a computer cannot perform. Jeopardy is a game of clever puns and riddles, not just knowledge, and many bet against even a huge, state of the art machine ever being able to best a human. Now, it will take a decade of Moore’s law multiplication for the computer power of Watson’s 90 servers to fit on a desktop machine…but as this occurs more and more people will find their jobs go the way of the elevator operator.
The Wall Street Journal article noted jobs such as travel agents, phone operators and stock traders are nearly extinct, and that with diagnosis algorithms “doctors are under fire as well. Computer Aided Diagnosis identifies patterns in X-rays and other diseases more cheaply and effectively than humans.”
One BIG exception: Professionals who physically touch patients and clients.
Back pain is a growing problem in our sitting…and aging…society. It’s bad, and getting worse. Just released 2008 numbers: 3.4 million visits to the emergency room and 663,000 inpatient stays (mostly for back surgery) visits. Nobody wants back surgery, and professionals who keep people moving well and managing pain without pills by physically working with their body will be busy.
Chiropractors, massage therapists, PTs, trainers, and other body therapists may face a bit of competition from massage chairs and exercise videos, but those of us who work with the individual—assessing their motion and posture to remove restriction and relieve pain as a part of a strategy to retrain posture and motion patterns will build relationships to consistently motivate and keep people moving well. And moving well is key to aging well…but that’s a thought for a different day.
