Sea Crest Health Care Center

by Ruth Folger Weiss

Few appreciate the impact of marketing on their lives, relegating it to lightweights and thinking of it as “Madison Avenue for the gullible.” But when marketing, science, and your health are in the crosshairs, it is indeed illuminating, and in my position as an advertising champion, somewhat gratifying.Pat Farnack, in her Your Health series on WCBS Radio, has been running a feature on how to choose a surgeon, and her latest, “Your Surgeon’s Car” tickled my fancy. After suggesting that one diligently sweat the details prior selecting a surgeon, i.e by Googling a prime candidate’s name, interviewing each candidate, and specifically asking how many of these surgeries he has personally been involved in as well as what his/her success rate is in the specific surgery you are considering, she quotes Peter Moore of men’s health magazine and states that one should go to the doctor’s parking lot to check out his car.”Your surgeon’s car is a window to his soul” and his success, she says. “If your doctor’s car is a wreck inside, if there’s a dent in the bumper, you have to think twice.”Your surgeon’s car should be far superior to those of the nurses and staff pulling in and out of the lot, and in a condition comparable to the one you want to be in post-op!This flies in the face of the more conservative values we were raised on: a car is a vehicle of transportation and not social aspiration.Guess, this marketing person intuited the intrinsic merits of some of what we do professionally…

by T. Lee

Common medical wisdom has it that you should wait as long as possible before getting a knee replacement. After all, even titanium doesn’t last forever, and you don’t want a second replacement in your twilight years.

But that wisdom is getting old fast. Knee replacements routinely last 20 or more years, which means they’re likely to last the average candidate’s lifetime.

There’s good reason not to wait until joint pain becomes unbearable. By the time all the cartilage has worn out and walking becomes agony, the average person has become an invalid. The worse off you are going into a surgery, the worse you’ll be coming out. Entering as a cripple is a guaranteed way to ensure that you don’t make a complete recovery or regain full use of the limb.

If your doctor keeps telling you to wait, don’t be afraid to get a second opinion, or insist that he recommend a replacement. “Wait until you can’t bear it anymore,” isn’t a good recommendation. If you’re hobbling with a walker, you deserve a replacement. In addition, men tend to get a replacement recommended faster than women, so if you’re female, don’t take “no” for an answer when you think you deserve a “yes.”

by T. Lee

What do you get when you combine an aging population with a gaining population?

Hip and knee replacements.

As baby boomers age and acquire arthritis, and as obesity continues to rage among the younger population, knees and hips are wearing out at an unprecedented rate. And as they wear out, they are being replaced at an unprecedented rate.

Arthritis is usually associated with aging, and the grinding down of cartilage at the joints. But cartilage can also be ground down by excessive weight placed on the joint by obesity.

Today, both populations of arthritis patients are growing, as baby boomers hit retirement and obesity grows in the general American population.

Arthritis can cause stiffness, swelling, and general joint pain, restricting, or even severely limiting, patient mobility. When pain-killers cease to help, join replacement surgery is a popular option. Titanium joints can last 10 or so years before they need to be replaced, and drastically reduce pain and increase mobility close to ordinary activity levels.

Between 2000 and 2004, there was a 53% increase in knee replacements and a 37% increase in hip replacements. According to a report by Dr. Sunny Kim at the Florida International University, if these trends persist, there will be 1.4 million knee replacements performed in the year 2015 alone. The cost to health care providers would be enormous.

by W. Adahan

Prevention is key for any disease. Alzheimer’s is becoming more prevalent as people live to older and older ages.

Among the elderly who don’t suffer Alzheimer’s disease, a few common traits and behaviors have been observed. Usually they are physically active, engage in mind-stimulating activities, and socially connected.

It follows then, that one who would avoid dementia, should keep in touch with relatives, remain in contact with friends, and be involved in the community. Social connection is also good for emotional health, which effects a person’s physical well being in more ways than can be counted.

Regular exercise, even walking or swimming, is also important. Exercise has actually been linked to the regrowth and growth of brain neurons in the hippocampus, the region of the brain used in memory, attention, and decision-making. Seniors who engaged in aerobic exercise three times a week have displayed a 15-20% increase in these cognitive functions. This may be due to the increased blood flow to the brain.

Keep the brain working! Reading, learning a language, playing music, traveling, or crossword puzzles are great ways to keep the brain intellectually challenged. You’ve heard it before, and it bears repeating: the brain is a muscle… use it or lose it.

Food intake has also been linked to cognitive help, no surprise there. A Mediterranean style diet, rich in fish, nuts, fruit, vegetables, olive oil, red wine, and blueberries, has been linked to increased brain health. There’s no need to overhaul your diet – a handful of blueberries a day, a glass of red wine, two servings of fish a week, and a handful of nuts every day can make a difference.

Eat healthy, live well.

Once Alzheimer’s sets in, it can be slowed and delayed both with drugs, and with the same preventative techniques. Assisted living facilities should provide a warm, family atmosphere, where all residents feel connected, creating that social bond that is so important to mental health. Their comprehensive rehabilitation program should give residents a healthy workout to keep the blood pumping and the neurons growing. Daily activities are calculated to stimulate the intellect, encourage thought, and improve cognition. With this healthy balanced existence, residents can age well and with dignity.

Back pain – something most Americans experience a few times a year. Wouldn’t it be nice to know why, and how to prevent it?

~Contributed by D. Green

One good reason for back pain is lack of muscle strength. When back muscles are weak, they tire when supporting your back, and lose their ability to support you in more straining positions. Exercising three times a week strengthens the muscles and can actually reduce the risk of chronic back pain by 43%, according to researchers in the Samsung Medical Center in Korea. Exercise also has a myriad of other benefits, which don’t bear listing, including weight loss. Even 5 pounds can increase the risk of spinal injury, the study found.

Poor technique is another leading cause of back injury. Never bend over to pick up heavy things; always crouch, and lift with the item close to your body. Don’t twist over to lift something that’s fallen off your chair or desk; twisting your back while lifting even a pen is a great way to strain the cartilage discs in your spine.

There are some old myths about back pain that need to be discarded. Hard mattresses and sitting straight are two to forget immediately. The spine isn’t straight, so a hard mattress is actually pushing your spine out of line. A soft mattress, though, isn’t much better, allowing your spinal column to sag out of shape. Choose a mattress with a medium amount of give.

While good posture is great, sitting upright actually puts weight on your spine, which over the course of the day, can strain it. Leaning back, forward, standing, walking, and stretching throughout the day relieve the tension.

Back pains aren’t all physical. Possibly half of lower back pains in the United States can be traced to stress or other psychosomatic reasons. Take a warm bath, meditate, or get a massage. It could make that pain go away. Heat relaxes muscles, but so can sniffing relaxing scents, or visiting the chiropractor or acupuncturist.

~ L. Gordon 

What do you get when you combine an aging population with a gaining population?

Hip and knee replacements.

As baby boomers age and acquire arthritis, and as obesity continues to rage among the younger population, knees and hips are wearing out at an unprecedented rate. And as they wear out, they are being replaced at an unprecedented rate.  

Arthritis is usually associated with aging, and the grinding down of cartilage at the joints. But cartilage can also be ground down by excessive weight placed on the joint by obesity.  

Today, both populations of arthritis patients are growing, as baby boomers hit retirement and obesity grows in the general American population.  

Arthritis can cause stiffness, swelling, and general joint pain, restricting, or even severely limiting, patient mobility. When pain-killers cease to help, join replacement surgery is a popular option. Titanium joints can last 10 or so years before they need to be replaced, and drastically reduce pain and increase mobility close to ordinary activity levels. 

Between 2000 and 2004, there was a 53% increase in knee replacements and a 37% increase in hip replacements. According to a report by Dr. Sunny Kim at the Florida International University, if these trends persist, there will be 1.4 million knee replacements performed in the year 2015 alone. The cost to health care providers would be enormous.

Being the right size can be good for your mind.

Research suggests that being underweight makes you 36% more likely to develop dementia in old age.

On the other end of the spectrum, obesity has been shown to give people an 80% increase in risk for cognitive disorders.

These results are based on an analysis of ten international studies, done by Youfa Wang, associate professor at John Hopkins University.

It found that vascular dementia is associated with central obesity – the type where the fat hangs around the person’s middle. So it’s no surprise that vascular dementia was the more common risk among obese men. Overweight women had more of a risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease.

Moral of the story – keep a good weight.

Contributed by L. Gordon

Contributed by L. Gordon

Everyone tells you to exercise. And there’s good reason. Getting the blood pumping and the muscles straining is an elixir for long and happy living. Skeptical? Read further:

1. Exercise has been positively linked to decreasing the risk of heart attack, hypertension, diabetes, dementia, osteoporosis, stroke, peripheral vascular disease, depression, and 12 kinds of cancer.
2. Regular, light exercise increases a person’s physical capacity to fight these disorders (and others) once acquired.
3. Heart attack victims are encouraged to exercise to increase their oxygen capacity. Aerobics lowers blood pressure and increases circulation, which treats circulation disorders and prevents strokes.
4. Although arthritis seems to prevent exercise, actually, exercise loosens the joints and reduces swelling.
5. Following knee and hip replacements, exercise is the key to regaining complete joint use.
6. Exercise releases pheromones which can combat depression.
7. Exercise has been linked to the growth of neurons in the brain region connected to memory retention.

Sounds good enough yet? Exercise is important not only for a healthy body, but also for a healthy mind, both physically and emotionally. So get up and get moving!