Get Healthy America!

To keep my license current and up to date, every two years I have to have twenty four continuing education credits. I can get these by going to symposiums or conferences or by watching videos/reading articles and taking a test on them. In one of my recent articles I read, The Impact of Obesity on Imaging,  I was blown away with some of the statistics I read and want to share them.

• More than 1/3 of U.S adults are obese.
• 89% of back injury claims filed by hospital staff are related to patient handling of obese patients. 
• Americans make 80% of trips less than 1 mile by car instead of by foot or bicycle. 
• Worldwide, an estimated 22 million of children under the age of 5 are overweight. 
• The estimated annual medical cost of obesity in the U.S was $147 billion in 2008; the medical costs for people who are obese were $1,429 higher than those of normal weight.
• In elderly women, obesity appears to lead to a greater risk of dementia and greater brain atrophy.

I understand that some people have medical conditions or reasons as to why they are obese. I get that. Nobody wakes up and decides they want to be overweight, but if things don't start changing and people don't start realizing that this isn't healthy, we aren't going to leave a good message for our future generation. 

Summing up my article:

Obesity leads to all sorts of problems such as: cardiac disease, hypertension and stroke, back problems, cancer, musculoskeletal diseases and disorders, sleep apnea and other breathing problems, diabetes, increased rates of Alzheimer's and infertility. Not to mention that due to obesity, it's harder to treat these problems AND it can harm the health care workers trying to help. 

Imaging modalities such as ultrasound, CT, x-ray, and MRI can't get good images on obese patients to help diagnose problems. Due to weight limits on tables, diameter of the gantry (hole) the patient has to enter, or the fact that there isn't enough power to penetrate the patient, quality images cannot be obtained. Health care workers that have to try to move, roll or lift these patients, end up hurting their backs. 

As a society, we need to learn and adapt a healthier way of living. I'm not saying I'm perfect (I'm apart of the 80% that drives less than a mile), but I try to watch what I eat and eat in moderation. You'd be amazed at what diet and exercise will do. I'm a HUGE fan of Extreme Weight Loss on ABC. Just go and watch an episode of that if you don't think you can change your life.