Palpation

Abstract

This article explores, touches, prods and pokes the theme of ‘palpation’. Prized as a skill by midwives and obstetricians, this method of discernment may be in demise as the interpretive art of palpating the size, shape and position of the baby within the womb is replaced by numerical methods such as the tape measure and the ultrasound scan. Does this matter? I discuss how touch can be warm, relational, fascinating and practically useful, and/or how it can be harsh, cold, painful, harmful. Inspired by Jess Moriarty and Mike Hayler, I attempt to ‘shine a light forward’ on the embodied experience of being palpated and of palpation.