Office Expectations

I have given several tours of the office recently, and try to be the best guide I can. We chose to abandon the typical health care office look for what we consider a more modern feel. Most offices in our area are white walled, sterile, cold looking facilities. We wanted something better, so our walls have color, we try to keep the lights low with the maximum natural light so it feels inviting. Most people who visit us comment on how comfortable the space is.

I believe that people want to feel comfortable at the doctors office, and we are doing our best to change the intimidating and sometimes obnoxious atmosphere. On the other hand maybe the consistency of the white walls and bright paintings are comforting because of conventional expectations of what an office should be.

Ergonomically Designed

We just finished a series of presentations on ergonomics. We usually enjoy giving them, but honestly I was quite worried about this one. Ergonomics is generally tedious, or so I thought. In preparation, we looked at the relevant research and were prepared to discuss proper angles and heights of chairs only to find out that it really didn't matter. Not that ergonomics don't matter, and that you shouldn't try to sit properly and work in good postures, but that the exact angles really didn't show much of a benefit in the research. What really worked is just moving. Taking short breaks and short stretches. So that's what we taught. Amazingly, ergonomics went from memorizing angles to stretching and quick exercises. People were engaged, and surprisingly interested in what we were discussing. I guess ergonomics can be fun.

Exercise Nutrition

Last week I came across this article and was worried what I might find on the inside. Most athletes, and people for that matter are so willing to try new things and to believe marketing by the growing business of sports nutrition, that it drives me crazy. I was relieved to read about people who take a common sense approach to nutrition post exercise. I get very excited when people show an ability to think for themselves (an ability I like to think I gained not too long ago), instead of just believing what someone else tells you.

I see many runners who are willing to drink each and every recovery drink and/or sports drink after every run, even short easy runs, when all this isn't even necessary. I personally opt for a little protein shake with some wheat germ and flax seed because it is convenient. I think it tastes alright too. It's not perfect, but it gets the job done for me. Real food is always better than processed food, but what's important is that you get some protein, and some carbs in following your training. You don't need a full meal right away, just a little something to help you repair. Most repairing will happen while you sleep anyway, so just take it easy and eat something.

Health Care?

Mass Health Care

I kind of thought this was going to be quite a mess. It looked like it was for the first little while, but according to The Washington Post, Massachusetts has done a good job with their health care plan. The number of their uninsured has been cut in half, and they say that there are only a few problems with people having to wait. Apparently the copays are even reasonable...for now. They are projecting that they will go up, which I imagine will cause the problem most people face of getting priced out of health care. Hopefully they can keep up with the preventative coverage and helping people before they need expensive procedures.

If people could only have access to the care they need at reasonable prices. I don't know what perfect health care looks like, and there seems to be problems with each system, but apparently France does a good job.