Health information is so important. Aging with Ability exists to help older adults improve their health. Here are 5 larger companies that are recommended when seeking out health information.
Senior Health Leader #1: Choose PT
Well of course, since I am a physical therapist my top recommendation is a physical therapy source. Choose PT is created by the APTA which is the American Physical Therapy Association.
Choose PT emphasizes the role of physical therapists in healthcare and for each person. Topics include falls prevention, returning to exercise with pain and a helpful Find a PT directory. As you will learn on this website, physical therapy is not just for post-surgical rehab as some think. Physical therapists work in acute care, home health, outpatient clinics to name a few settings. Many states are called direct access states which means you don’t need a physician referral to seek physical therapy care, contributing to their role in primary care as well as importance of their expertise in comorbidities and overall health.
Check out Choose PT and their condition directory for more information on a certain condition, or use the directory if you are currently experiencing pain or a decline in function to work with a local PT on restoration of ability.
Senior Health Leader #2: National Council on Aging
The National Council on Aging has a 70 year history of helping older adults improve their lives. Their resources cover a wide range of topics including falls prevention, economic advice, and healthy living.
One of my favorite tools on their website is the Falls Free Checkup. It is a short 12 question quiz that identifies potential falls risks. It gives you a score and a score of 4 or more indicates a potential concern for you about falling. Then, it leads to resources on falls and falls prevention. Of course, that would include working with a physical therapist. I took the quiz just to view the questions and every single one of the falls risk questions are things I address everyday with patients. Balance, assistive device use, ability to step up a curb, medication side effects, and incontinence all indicate risk factors that could lead to a fall. Identifying your risks and learning more about what preventative measures you can use or help you can seek are useful.
I like the motivation behind the National Council on Aging and their range of resources is valuable.
Senior Health Leader #3: National Institute on Aging
The National Institute on Aging is a service provided by the US Dept of Health and Human Services. Similar to the National Council on Aging their website covers a wide range of topics. Cognition, caregiving and healthy eating are a few of these topics. There are frequent news posts including current research topics relevant to older adults.
One of the highlights from their sites is the topic of talking with your doctor. Good communication and finding a primary care provider who is an advocate for you is an important part of your health management. Your primary care physician is a great contact point for changes in your health. As a PCP (primary care physician) they act as the contact point for specialists as well so they should have an up to date summary of your health history and medications in order to prevent duplication and have a compilation of the team members in your care team. Trusting your PCP is important and this website highlights that importance and what to look for if you are seeking out a new physician.
Senior Health Leader #4: SilverSneakers
Have you heard of SilverSneakers? SilverSneakers is a network of fitness classes, online fitness classes, and many do not know that they are eligible for membership through their health insurance.
SilverSneakers is aimed at older adults over 65 and highlights their specialty in working with older adults when compared to other trainers and fitness classes. They include an article section focused on exercise as well. I like that they emphasize community as part of exercise. Whether it is encouraging people to attend group classes, or providing for online community connections that is important to healthy aging as well.
Senior Health Leader #5: American Heart Association
The American Heart Association is a very well known organization. It was founded in 1924 originally to help doctors and social workers learn more about heart disease and promote education around the topic. American Heart Association is well known for CPR training and many research projects.
Considering that the American Heart Association reported that up to 1/2 of American adults have some cardiovascular disease heart health and research is so important. The healthy living section on their site educates on preventative health measures including exercise, healthy eating, and weight management to prevent cardiovascular disease.
Conclusion
I hope that this provided you with a variety of new resources to check out. I wanted to include a broad spectrum of topics in health from heart disease, to overall aging and health, and then of course a physical therapy based resource. I hope to provide useful education here on Aging with Ability surrounding health management topics with a specific focus on falls prevention at home and that complements information you can receive from these resources. One of the main things I feel is different about Aging with Ability is that I will hopefully be diving deeper into a smaller range of topics rather than a huge range at a more shallow level of information. I think also my site will provide a different perspective on health due to being written by a physical therapist rather than a researcher, or physician which hopefully will make the language a little more personal and always have an emphasis on conservative care measures and preventative health.
Thanks for checking out these recommendations.
Please feel free to leave a comment on other resources you have found helpful or if you have used one of the above sources.