Category: mobility

12/10/2012 - Frailty is a medical condition, not an inevitable result of aging

It’s called frailty. There have always been frail people, but only in recent years has the term “frailty” become a medical diagnosis, defined by specific symptoms and increasingly focused on by those who deal with the medical issues of the elderly. Clinicians now are looking at ways to prevent or delay frailty, sometimes even reverse… Read more 12/10/2012 - Frailty is a medical condition, not an inevitable result of aging

12/10/2012 - Obesity in Young Is Seen as Falling in Several Cities

After decades of rising childhood obesity rates, several American cities are reporting their first declines. The trend has emerged in big cities like New York and Los Angeles, as well as smaller places like Anchorage, Alaska, and Kearney, Neb. The state of Mississippi has also registered a drop, but only among white students. Read the… Read more 12/10/2012 - Obesity in Young Is Seen as Falling in Several Cities

12/10/2012 - Training Needed for Home Care Is Lacking

“H” from Chicago, I heard you when you joined a lively discussion over hospice at home here a couple of weeks ago and asked, “where can family members get the training to do all the nursing tasks?” In the comments section, many readers wrote in to say that caring for relatives at the end of… Read more 12/10/2012 - Training Needed for Home Care Is Lacking

12/3/2012 - Forced to Choose: Exploring Other Options

Medicare will pay for hospice, the acknowledged gold standard for those at the end of life and their families, and it will also pay for skilled nursing (known in this universe as the “sniff” benefit, for Skilled Nursing Facility or S.N.F.). But only rarely will it cover both at the same time, which creates a… Read more 12/3/2012 - Forced to Choose: Exploring Other Options

12/1/2012 - Mortgage Catch Pushes Widows Into Foreclosure

Just as the housing market is recovering, a growing group of homeowners — widows over the age of 50 whose husbands alone were holders of the mortgage — are losing their homes to foreclosure because of a paperwork flaw that keeps them from obtaining loan modifications. In the latest chapter of the foreclosure crisis, homeowners… Read more 12/1/2012 - Mortgage Catch Pushes Widows Into Foreclosure

12/1/2012 - Taking a Stand for Office Ergonomics

The health studies that conclude that people should sit less, and get up and move around more, have always struck me as fitting into the “well, duh” category. Related Bits Blog: Field Notes in Ergonomic Diversity: Standup Workers Speak (December 2, 2012) But a closer look at the accumulating research on sitting reveals something more… Read more 12/1/2012 - Taking a Stand for Office Ergonomics

11/29/2012 - Under One Roof, Building for Extended Families

A Pew study reports that 41 percent of adults between 25 and 29 are now living, or have lived recently, with their parents. Over all, more than 50 million Americans are in multigenerational households, a 10 percent increase from 2007. It is a back-to-the-future moment. “You have to go back to the 1940s to see… Read more 11/29/2012 - Under One Roof, Building for Extended Families

11/29/2012 - How We Can Make Older Bodies Young Again

Stanford Center on Longevity deputy director Thomas Rando, MD, PHD reports on a new discovery that could help maintain muscle tissue well into old age Read the full article at Next Avenue.

11/21/2012 - Positive Outlook Helps Seniors Heal

Older patients with positive attitudes on aging may be more likely to fully recover from severe disability compared with those who can’t see the bright side of life, a new study found. A positive stereotype about aging was associated with a 44 percent greater likelihood of recovery from severe disability versus negative stereotypes, according to… Read more 11/21/2012 - Positive Outlook Helps Seniors Heal

11/19/2012 - Can You Move It And Work It On A Treadmill Desk?

National Public Radio’s Patti Neighmond reports, there’s a backlash brewing to sedentary office life as more people realize how sitting all day can do a body wrong. Read or listen to the full story at National Public Radio.