The response of the medical community to issues of impairment in mobility such as the need for joint replacement and general deterioration of the joints has been extremely expensive solutions such as artificial joint implantation, complex surgeries, and drug therapies. This has created a situation where the ability to move without pain is becoming the dividing line between rich and poor and is creating a financial burden on all citizens that cannot be sustained. Joint replacements are steadily increasing annually!
This high cost approach has been taken despite the overwhelming effectiveness of preventive therapy to strengthen the bones and joints which would make many of these expensive “solutions” unnecessary. Meaningful strengthening of the joints and bones can be performed readily with simple muscle strengthening techniques in a very time efficient manner. This can be accomplished in our already existing lavish infrastructure of gyms and exercise facilities throughout the country. However, without a public health mandate from the authorities there is no sense of urgency to implement these preventive techniques on a scale that would seriously affect costs and level the field for rich and poor. In short, no one is preventing the deterioration of their mobility despite the ready ability to do so. We have already paid for the facilities to implement this program, we are simply not using them. We have the ability to dramatically cut costs and make mobility an egalitarian issue, we simply are not doing it.
We call upon the public health officials to issue a public mandate to promote the need for a preventive approach to the issue of mobility. We call upon our public officials to actually take steps to promote the use of effective and meaningful preventive therapies for the issues of osteoporosis, osteoarthritis, joint deterioration and general mobility. We need a public awareness that meaningful exercise can prevent immobility and needless medical expense.
