TY - JOUR T1 - Touch matters: COVID-19, physical examination, and 21st century general practice JF - British Journal of General Practice JO - Br J Gen Pract SP - 594 LP - 595 DO - 10.3399/bjgp20X713705 VL - 70 IS - 701 AU - Paquita de Zulueta Y1 - 2020/12/01 UR - http://bjgp.org/content/70/701/594.abstract N2 - The pandemic, not yet over, has already significantly changed how primary care functions. GPs, typically innovative and adaptable, swiftly switched to ‘remote’ consulting in March, with telephone and video consultations the norm and face-to-face the exception, albeit still available.1 GP’s express concerns that the ‘flight to the virtual’ may lead to losses, including the sapping of energy and joy and an increase in health inequalities.2 But there is another deeper issue at stake. The loss of touch in our personal encounters threatens the wellbeing of all of us and, in particular, for those who are vulnerable and living alone. In the context of our professional encounters, the physical examination, aside from its diagnostic value, is an important mode of communication and a skill that requires embodied learning and practice — ‘body pedagogics’.3 We should be wary of discounting its value.Giles Dawnay in the BJGP posed the question: ‘Could our skin be far more than just a barrier to the elements?’ 4 My answer is a definite ‘yes’. Ashley Montagu, in his seminal book reminds us that the skin ‘is the oldest and the most sensitive of our organs, our first medium of communication and our most efficient protector.’ 5 The largest and most versatile of our sense organs, it holds an astonishing number of sensory receptors for heat, cold, touch, and pain, giving us an integrated sense of our bodies. Montagu claims that touch is more powerful than language and central to human life, providing us with our most fundamental means of contact with the external world. Research indeed confirms that the skin is a social organ, coding interpersonal interactions and enabling us to develop our sense of ‘felt security’ and connectedness. Touch communicates emotion in a ‘robust fashion’ and people can discern with a high … ER -