JustCare

Tag: Exercise

  • Health care data: Benefits and risks

    Health care data: Benefits and risks

    If you use a Fitbit or share your medical information in an online support group, you’re part of a growing trend in health care.

    It’s the health data movement, an offshoot of the “big data” revolution that’s changing the way many industries do business—driven by powerful software tools that analyze mountains of information.

    In health care, data from medical bills, electronic health records (EHRs), e-devices, and Internet and social-media interactions is now being mined to uncover meaningful trends and patterns, including which treatments work best.

    That’s a good thing because it helps clinicians improve not only the care they deliver but also the way the health system works.

    But there are risks. With so many billions of bytes of data sloshing around today’s electronic systems and digital devices, some of it is bound to end up being used in ways that could compromise your privacy and/or lead to identity theft and fraud.

    From 2009 through 2014 health-care businesses reported more than 1,100 breaches affecting the medical records of an estimated 41 million people, according to ProPublica. And three large-scale breaches of personal information involving health insurance companies—Anthem in several states, Premera Blue Cross in Washington State and CareFirst in the Washington DC area—have occurred in 2015.

    To help you understand the benefits and risks of health data use, Consumer Reports has produced a 16-page guide, available free. Produced with support from Atlantic Philanthropies and in collaboration with AcademyHealth, a Washington, D.C -based non-profit that promotes health services research, the guide has profiles of cutting edge health data initiatives, including several that involve consumers contributing their data and participating in research projects. The guide also has tips on how you can participate in the health data movement even as you protect your medical information and privacy.

  • Physical Therapy: Services you can benefit from and services to avoid

    Physical Therapy: Services you can benefit from and services to avoid

    Many of us at one time or another need physical therapy, particularly after a surgery or injury, to help us build our muscles, use our joints and move properly, while easing pain. It is often prescribed for people getting hip, knee or ACL replacements, people with arthritis or stroke. And, most insurers, including Medicare, cover some physical therapy services. To get the most of your care, make sure you are getting needed therapy; according to Choosing Wisely and Consumer Reports, certain therapies in some instances may do more harm than good:

    1. Heat and cold treatments: Ice packs and heated pads at home can provide short-term pain relief. But, beware of deep-heat machines, such as ultrasounds, for arthritis of the knee. Tailored exercise programs can be far better for you. It’s often best to move as much as possible.
    2. Strength training for older adults: It’s important to build muscle through exercise and movement or you can find yourself struggling to walk and balance as you age. Strength training should be challenging in most cases in order to build muscles, even for people who are not strong. If an exercise is easy, it is not likely working. Be sure your form is correct. If your knees or other joints are inflamed, then you should avoid challenging exercises.
    3. Treatment for blood clots: Often people are told to lie in bed if they are post-surgery and at risk for a blood clot. However, staying in bed does not help. Medicine is the chief treatment for Deep Vein Thrombosis or DVT.  You are no more likely to keep a clot from traveling into your lungs and preventing blood flow, (a pulmonary embolism) by staying in bed than by being active. And, being active is generally better for you once the anti-clotting drug takes effect. Remaining in bed can actually make a clot bigger and weaken your system.
    4. Exercises after knee replacement: Usually you will begin moving your knee within a day of surgery with help from a physical therapist, who will provide you with exercises. Moving also lowers your chances of getting a blood clot. If your doctor recommends you use a Continuous Passive Motion machine, ask questions; the evidence shows that it does not ease pain or help improve your quality of life; exercise delivers better results at lower cost. Of course, exercise is usually a key way you can improve your health, along with that of your partner.
    5. Wound care: Never use a whirlpool for wound care; there is no evidence that it works, and it can cause infections. Bacteria can spread easily to an open wound. If it does, then you are likely to get an infection, for which you will need to take antibiotics. It’s better to keep the wound clean and sterile and not expose it to bacteria that can cause an infection and possibly get into your blood stream.
  • Exercise! You can help your spouse

    Exercise! You can help your spouse

    There are seemingly endless reasons to exercise. Exercise can help with balance. Exercise can lower your risk of stroke, heart disease and diabetes. Exercise can even help you recover faster in hospital. The latest research from Johns Hopkins School of Public Health reveals that when you exercise you can help your spouse. Yes, that’s right. If you increase the amount that you engage in physical activity, your spouse is more likely to do so as well.

    The research further suggests that if you’re hoping to help someone to exercise, you probably should discuss it with both the person and the person’s partner or friend. Apparently, counseling a couple to exercise is more likely to get them to exercise than counseling one of them alone.

    Exercise is really important for wellbeing. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services recommends at least two and a half hours a week of moderate activity such as brief walking—20 minutes a day. The health benefits are significant for people of all ages, races and ethnicities and the risks are small by comparison. If older adults cannot engage in that much exercise because of a chronic condition, they should still exercise as much as possible.

    Too many Americans do not get anywhere near enough physical activity. You will be doing both yourself and your spouse a favor if you exercise as much as possible.