Apply ice to the area and use an anti-inflammatory medi

Knee pain can result from joint damage caused by art

But I suppose the shoe’s on the other foot now – not long ago a first-time mother above age *35* was called an elderly prima gravida. Sheesh. :)

As for the literature, here’s the first line of the article: “A consistent body of evidence suggests that social connectedness impacts health and well being” (and 7 citations are listed as proof, ranging from a 1979 mortality study to a 1989 depression study to a 1992 stroke study, for example.) What’s new here (I glean) is that they focused on surgery as the event and dug down a bit deeper on the “social functions” (other than worship services) that patients participate in.

I still want to know some examples of those social functions — bowling leagues? a weekly poker game? sitting on a park bench with a pal?

First, in my online community (on CaringBridge), I had posts from a hundred people, from my high school years through college and co-workers and beyond … some were people I’d only heard of and some I didn’t even know that well. It was *phenomenal* hearing that so many people were pulling from me. My story is just one data point, but when my symptoms were at their worst, my recovery speed and painkiller use were minimal, from what I’ve heard. And subjectively it just made a huge difference to know that a lot of people were waiting to hear how I was doing.

Second, I think that answers the question about the role of technology.

Third, isn’t there a hefty body of research showing that (a) connectedness boosts the immune system, and (b) a stronger immune system correlates with a better patient experience, reduced pain, and quicker recovery? Maybe not, but I thought I’d read things over the years that made that obvious. Either way, it would be useful to construct a set of links to build that case (or encourage research into whether it’s true).

As for self-selection, that’s statistically worth asking; I suspect that people who have more social connectedness probably are more willing to be touched. So I’d like to see these outcomes from a similar mix of social network size that didn’t receive massage therapy.

In fact that makes me scratch my head – did they say why they selected a population of people who got massages??

Re “elderly men,” watch yer language. :)

The authors did write that there was a “potential self-selection bias…as patients who were not interested in being touched refused to participate, although more than two-thirds of eligible patients were willing to be touched. It is possible that patients who refused to participate were also more anxious and in greater pain than those who did participate.”

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/09/AR2007030901897.html

Anyway–glad to see you are blogging! Was much needed.

Another example of patients with larger social networks showing better outcomes :)

- AmyT