You’ve probably noticed that I like to post a lot of blogs that pertain to advances in research that pertain to senior citizens and senior health. Sometimes, the connections here are pretty obvious, but other times the findings of the research don’t have an immediate connection to the wellbeing of the elderly.
But this doesn’t make these advances unimportant. In fact, research is incredibly important when it comes to the quality of the care and treatment that our loved ones receive. Advances in medical research–the ones that help us to better understand the body and the mind–allow doctors and other professionals to create a higher quality of life for everybody.
It’s through research that effective cures and treatments are discovered. It takes countless hours in a laboratory setting, hours and hours of writing, editing, and double checking facts and figures to ensure accuracy, and then sometimes years of waiting as treatments go through the approval process so that they can be used by the general public. This process is long and tedious, but it’s in place to make sure that treatments are helpful, danger is reduced to those going through them, and that the results can be replicated from person to person.
Sometimes new therapies or treatment methods emerge and they receive a lot of hype and attention in the widespread community. But as time goes by and more is known about these methods, we learn that perhaps they aren’t as effective as originally believed. For example, cognitive functional therapy (CFT) has been widely touted as being helpful for treating back pain. Now that there are a few studies regarding its efficacy done, researchers are coming to the conclusion that perhaps it isn’t the wonder treatment that some had purported it to be.
This doesn’t mean there’s no benefit to CFT. In fact, it looks like it’s about as effective as other methods of treating back pain that are currently being used. More research is going to be needed if this treatment will end up being used with any sort of reliability.
Research comes in a whole bunch of different forms. On the blog, we feature a variety of types of studies, ranging from controlled clinical studies to observational and practical research. The goal is to educate about potential help your family might benefit from in the future.
Ultimately, the care decisions that your family will make should be determined by what is going to work best and be the most helpful. Research can act as a good starting point for some of your decisions and eliminate confusion. But research tends to deal with widespread practices and populations. At the end of the day, you are the expert of your own personal situation.
If you’re looking for direction when it comes to senior care, please reach out. We offer a free, personalized consultation service for precisely this purpose. A caregiver would be happy to go over your goals and help get you steered in the right direction. Call today to get started.
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