We Know About Mental Health. What About Social Health?
Michael Thomas has a radical idea that loneliness needs to be normalized. Thomas, a lecturer in social work at Brunel University London, says it should be accepted that everyone struggles “and it’s...
View ArticleBroaching the Subject of Hearing Loss
Helene Rosenthal’s day starts when she gets out of bed and puts in her hearing aids, something that’s as natural as brushing her teeth. It ends when she climbs into bed and says to her husband, Jim,...
View ArticleCould Your Symptoms Point to a Pelvic Floor Disorder?
Good muscle tone is important to health in many ways. But most people don’t realize that it’s also important to maintain, treat and improve muscle tone in the pelvis. The pelvis works sort of like a...
View ArticleYears Caring for His Wife Transformed This Doctor’s View of Health Care
Caring for someone with a serious illness stretches people spiritually and emotionally, often beyond what they might have thought possible. Dr. Arthur Kleinman, a professor of psychiatry and...
View ArticleHow Essential Tremor Is Diagnosed and Treated
Robert Chance has lived with an essential tremor in his left hand since he was 6. He managed to help out on his family’s Minnesota farm, although he did have trouble flying kites. After college, Chance...
View ArticleThe Double Whammy for Older, Low-Wage Workers With Chronic Conditions
Sixty percent of Americans have at least one chronic disease, such as heart disease or diabetes, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Chronic diseases are even more common among...
View ArticleShould You Be Pro-Probiotics?
Humans are made up of over 100 trillion microbes, with the majority of them living in our large intestine. These microbes — fungi, yeast, bacteria and protozoa — are collectively called the microbiome....
View ArticleWhy Older Adults With Addictions Fare Better in Age-Tailored Rehab
The numbers are, pardon the expression, staggering: The National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence reports that 2.5 million older adults have an alcohol or drug problem. The journal Psych...
View ArticleThis Boxing Training Helps People With Parkinson’s Fight Back
Classic rock blasted on the sound system at Element Gym in St. Paul, Minn., as a coach yelled “jab, jab, cross, hook!” About 20 boxers responded, punching the heavy bags in front of them. Some hit the...
View ArticleOn a Mission to My Dad’s Remission
“Your father is very sick.” This is not what you want to hear from your parent’s oncologist, but precisely why I was by my father’s side at his appointments. The coldest days of winter 2017 were also...
View ArticleThe Financial Burden of Breast Cancer
Medicine has made remarkable progress in battling many diseases that were once a certain death sentence. Conditions like HIV, heart disease and many types of cancer are now treated as chronic...
View ArticleHow I Became Hooked on Opioids and Eventually Got Off Them
If you saw me walking down the street, a white, middle-class guy in his 60s, I doubt you’d think I could be someone who was once addicted to opioids. But I was, and I’m sharing my story about this...
View ArticleNew Survey Spotlights Older Adults’ Struggle in Opioid Epidemic
Opioid abuse has risen dramatically over the past 20 years and a recent survey from the National Council on Aging (NCOA) paints an alarming picture of how older adults are affected. The survey garnered...
View ArticleWhat to Do If You Have Hip Pain
David Cooper experienced hip issues in his late 40s, primarily when he slept on his side or walked uphill. He had been seeing a rheumatologist (a specialist in musculoskeletal disease and autoimmune...
View ArticleResilient Despite Osteoporosis and 7 Surgeries
As my friends push through their mid-60s and into their 70s, I’ve noticed that, along with our children, our work and that perennial favorite, our in-laws, aches, pains and surgeries have increasingly...
View ArticleWhy Doctors Are Coming Where You Live — and Shop
The Mall of America on the outskirts of the Twin Cities has more than 520 stores and restaurants, plus an indoor theme park. Last November, it added something else: the M Health Fairview Walk-In Clinic...
View ArticleWhy a New Medicare Policy Could Cut Back on Physical Therapy
Medicare changed its payment policy for physical, occupational and speech therapy in skilled nursing facilities Oct. 1, 2019, moving to a new system called the Patient-Driven Payment Model (P.D.P.M.)....
View ArticleHow Social Services Can Improve Health Care
Integrating social services into medical care helps improve outcomes, prevents costly hospital admissions and lowers cost of care for everyone. Social work professionals have long known this. Now,...
View ArticleHow Chronic Loneliness Can Trigger Health Problems
Last time you visited your doctor, did he or she ask if you felt lonely? Did your doctor inquire about how many friendships you have or ask about how many community groups you are involved with?...
View ArticleMore Than Chemo: A Different Way to Treat Cancer
People facing a cancer diagnosis, particularly a late-stage cancer diagnosis, may feel that their locus of control over life has been removed. They are now “patients,” relying on their oncologist,...
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