Medical treatment for real illnesses and trauma is better today than at any time in our history, but . . .

Doctors have historically been “sick-care” providers, no matter what you may elect to call it.

Doctors now (as a result of recent poor publicity about sick care) are now promoting health and wellness care with new concierge programs where they provide certain basic services and then have ala carte services at extra cost. My own previous primary care physician claims to be dropping 75% of his patients to implement his new concierge system. I predict these will become far more costly in the future both to the consumer and to the doctor. I believe Doctors are being sold into joining these new outside concierge providers to consolidate many of the high administrative costs in dealing with the Insurance companies and the Government. Yet he is dropping 75 % of his clients. Go figure.

As I get older, I get to go to more doctors, each with their own practice and specialty. Each one gives a series of tests, looks at them and then says “come back in 4 to 6 months for a follow up. I have a dermatologist (I had skin cancer). I have a primary care physician. I have a cardiologist. I have an endocrinologist. I probably have two or three that I don’t even know about. I have a dentist. So every six months, I keep going back to each of them. They all want more testing, “just in case” – Ka ching!

I bet I’m not alone, am I?

But what happens if I take care of myself? What happens if I exercise and eat right? That’s what I do now, and with the exception of the deteriorated heart valve which required replacement with a cow part last June, I have very little wrong with me. I have “self-care”. I feel good most of the time. I no longer have stomach problems. I no longer have many of the other problems that I used to have. I haven’t had any more kidney stones. Thyroid tests show borderline low thyroid function but there have never been any symptoms. It’s been that way for years, yet I go back every six months, for more tests, “just to be sure.”

Doctors are superb if you break a bone or if you are bleeding to death, or truly need surgery. They’re great if you want a check up every year (something everyone should have as they age). But to go back to six doctors every six months and have more tests when there are no symptoms of anything, seems like a bit of excess to me. Of course I’ve paid into Medicare since it’s inception so I guess you’re not really paying for my doctor’s visits.

My doctors are great people. They often serve too many patients and are truly overworked in many cases. If they accept Medicare, they are probably underpaid for the services they provide. Biomedical discoveries and treatments have greatly improved for real illnesses. Trauma treatment advances seem to increase exponentially when we have troops in harms way, and they trickle down to the civilian medical community. Organ replacements and joint replacements have become commonplace. New treatments are being discovered almost daily for any number of diseases and illnesses.

The point of all this is that even with all the medical advances, people are truly starting to look inward at their own health and wellness. People are beginning to realize that they are responsible for their own health and wellness and are actually doing something about it. Over the last five years I have observed more people at the gym, more articles on health and wellness in publications, and more people taking care of themselves. Many studies bear this out with statistical support.

On the other hand there are more unhealthy and overweight people than ever. Those are the statistics we read about. In other words, the bell shaped health curve is getting wider at the ends and narrower in the middle.

As we learn more and more about taking charge of our own health and wellness and leaving the medical community to solve real problems and treat real illness, we can hope that that bell shaped curve widens on the healthy side, narrows on the unhealthy side and comes to a “V” in between the two. I am running into more and more people who are truly interested in their own health and wellness, and it is gratifying. I hope you fit into that category too.

Exercise and eat healthfully. It’s magical!

Thanks for reading.

My wife and I just returned Sunday, from a 16 day road trip through North and South Carolina, Georgia and Florida.  We visited friends in Hilton Head, St. Augustine, FL, and Southport, NC, and also stayed several days each in hotels in Charleston, SC, Tarpon Springs, FL, Orlando, FL, and Tybee Island, GA.  Whether in people’s homes or in hotel rooms, I managed to exercise every day on the trip except one.  Through exercise, I managed to stay loose, flexible, active and awake, both at the beginning and at the end of each day.

It’s VERY important that you do some sort of exercise when you travel, whether by air or by car.  You are confined for long periods and you get stiff, uncomfortable and you will experience some muscle loss if you do nothing but drive.

I thought that for this article, it might be useful to explain how, where and what equipment I used.

It’s simple, really.  I used my own body as equipment for most of the exercises.  I also brought exercise bands to use for basic strength exercises.  Although many hotels have some sort of minimum exercise facilities, they consist mostly of treadmills and exercise bikes.  We were tourists, so we got in plenty of walking.  We also managed to climb two lighthouses in two days:  219 steps for the St. Augustine, FL lighthouse and 187 steps the next day in the Tybee Island, GA lighthouse.  The interesting part is that I was not out of breath and my legs weren’t sore later.

Exercising in other people’s homes can be a little disconcerting.  But, as most of my readers know, I recommend a lot of “floor and core” exercises and movements,  They are quiet and don’t bother anyone with a lot of noise.  Also I managed to get up early and did most of the exercises before anyone else was awake (people seem to sleep later in the South).  If there is enough room for you to lay on the floor at the end of the bed, there is enough room to get plenty of exercise.

Some people are uncomfortable with floors in general, or hotel room floors in particular.  If that’s you, many of the stretching movements as well as some of the bending and twisting movements can easily be done in bed.  Just don’t fall back asleep.

The exercise stretch band I brought worked perfectly for arm and back strength exercises.  They require nothing more than a bit of pulling and pushing, necessary for most upper body strength exercises.

The particular exercises I did are mostly irrelevant.  The important thing is that when traveling, it is important to exercise, particularly if you are doing a lot of driving or flying.  Leg stretching and flexibility exercises are probably the most important things you can do during a trip of any length.  Floor and core movements come in a close second.  You’ll find yourself more active and able to last through the trip without getting overly tired and irritable.  You’ll enjoy your trip much more.

Thank you for reading

This is the third and final part of a series on falling, the floor, and balance.  It was originally published as a PDF newsletter article several years ago.  This third article is about balance.

 FALLING, PART 3
BALANCE
By Bob McMillan

 Here’s my definition of Balance: Balance is maintaining your equilibrium. Loss of balance is losing your equilibrium.

Here’s what the Personal Trainer textbook of The National Academy of Sports Medicine says about balance:

 “Balance is often thought of as a static process. However, functional balance is a dynamic process involving multiple neurologic pathways. Maintenance of positive equilibrium (or balance) is an integrated process requiring optimal muscular balance (or length tension relationships and force-couple relationships), joint dynamics (or arthrokinematics), and neuromuscular efficiency.” Essentials of Personal Fitness Training, NASM, p.220.

Hmmmmm . . . Got all that?

Four main elements affect balance:

1.  Inner ear. These are the fluids and canals in your ear that are sensitive to the positionof your head. They provide sensory cues to your nervous system as to the position of your head in space and provide a major sensory input to balance.

2.  Vision. With your eyes open, you have a reference point with the outside world. It helps keep you upright. Try closing your eyes and feel yourself starting to rock back and forth.

3.  Receptors/sensors in your feet. When you are standing, the nerves in bottom of your feet are constantly sending signals without you being consciously aware of it. Your body is constantly making minor adjustments to keep you upright.

4.  The effects of gravity on your muscles. Gravity is trying to pull you down; your muscles respond by keeping you upright. Your muscles are constantly responding to the gravitational effects on your body, even when you are standing still with an upright posture.

Your Center of Gravity is the intersection of horizontal and vertical positioning of your body. It can be outside of your body if you are leaning or bending. Since your body is constantly moving or repositioning, your center of gravity is also constantly shifting.

Here are the best exercises for balance, simplified: Stand on one leg and do something with the other, without falling over. The longer you can go without falling, the better your balance.

 

Sounds pretty simplistic doesn’t it? Well, it is . . . even for us seniors. There are plenty  ofvariations as to what to do with your other leg. Basically it involves moving, lifting and bending it in different directions.

Most of us don’t often get into many situations where losing our balance will cause a fall where we injure ourselves. Usually, even without any training, we will automatically make the necessary adjustment to prevent us from falling. Most of our falls, you will recall from previous issues, are caused by tripping or slipping. But being able to maintain our balance is still important. If we find ourselves walking down the hallway, staggering back and forth because we can’t maintain our equilibrium, people are likely to imagine all kinds of bad things about us.

 

So, to keep the rumors from flying, we should probably include some balance exercises in our daily, yes daily, exercise routine. So stand on one leg and do “something” with the other one. Have something nearby to hold on to something for support if you must.

 

My above comments are intended to be a bit “tongue in cheek”. Balance really is important as we get older. We may not be able to maintain our balance and we may fall as a result. As I said, in most cases we will be able to catch ourselves by using our leg strength as we stick our leg out to regain our balance. I think we make the exercise process too complicated though. Keep it simple: Stand on one leg and doing “something” with the other one.

 

Here’s a little trick I learned a long time ago that works for me.  When you are standing on one leg, hold your ear lobe, on the same side as the leg you are standing on,  between your thumb and forefinger and squeeze slightly.  Hold it during the entire time you are on one leg.  You will be amazed at how much better your balance is.  How does it work?  I don’t know.  It’s one of those “New Agey” things that seem to work.

 

While some of what I wrote is tongue in cheek, falling is a very serious subject for seniors and should be approached that way. I have fallen, both on my face and on my rear end. Although I have had some bruises, I have avoided serious injury by following the suggestions I have made throughout this series. I hope if you fall, you will avoid serious injury, too.

 

Thanks for reading.  I hope you benefited.