Home is where the healing happens

Dorothy spends her entire “The Wizard of Oz” journey searching for a way home to Kansas, only to find that the solution was as simple as clicking her ruby heels and repeating: “There’s no place like home. There’s no place like home. There’s no place like home.”

Well, according to new research, Dorothy’s mantra also may apply to people recovering from hip or knee replacement surgery. Three new studies presented at the annual meeting of the American Association of Orthopedic Medicine show that, for most people, home is a better place to recover than a rehab facility.

One investigation by researchers at Thomas Jefferson University School of Medicine found that people who went directly home after total knee replacement had a lower risk of post-surgery complications and hospital readmission than those who went to an in-patient rehab facility.

Another, done by New York’s Hospital for Special Surgery, showed that patients admitted to a care facility after hip replacement had a higher risk of wound complications, respiratory problems and hospital readmission.

Worried about recovering at home if you live alone? Yet another study found that patients recovered at home as quickly and with as few complications whether they lived with others or not. Our tip: Post-TKR, have a visiting nurse, friends, even paid attendants for a few days to help you get in and out of bed (bathroom), work with your auto knee-bending machine and manage pain medications.

So, before you get a hip or knee replacement, talk to your doc about how to best head home post-op.

Low-fat won’t help shed fat

Remember the Burl Ives song about the old lady who swallowed the fly? By the end of the song, she’d swallowed a cow to catch the goat to catch the dog to catch the cat to catch the bird to catch the spider (it wiggled and jiggled and tickled inside her) to catch the fly. But it concludes: “I don’t know why she swallowed the fly.”

Well, if you’re swallowing foods marketed as “low-fat,” “low-sugar” or “low-sodium” to help improve your nutrition or lose weight, you might just be swallowing a spider to catch a fly, too. And you should ask yourself, “Why am I eating that?”

A new study looked at more than 80 million foods and beverages purchased among 40,000 U.S. households over five years and found that, “in many cases, foods containing low-sugar, low-fat or low-salt claims had a worse nutritional profile than those without claims.” For example, low-fat chocolate milk has more sugar than plain milk and more fat and sugar than many other beverages. Even more confusing, a brownie can be labeled “low-fat” if it has 3 grams of fat per 40-gram serving, but low-fat cheesecake has 3 grams of fat per 125-gram serving. The brownie has a relatively higher fat content.

The lesson here: You have to read the nutrition labels, not just packaging claims. Remember, if a company has to make a low-content version in the first place, chances are the original wasn’t healthy and the new one isn’t much better.

Don’t always follow the GPS

As “Deep Throat” told journalists Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein: If you want to find the criminals, “Follow the money.” If only it were that simple when it came to finding your destination in an unfamiliar metropolis or across state lines. That’s why so many folks think the best advice is “follow the GPS.” But there’s one problem: You don’t learn how to navigate by just blindly following instructions, and that can dull your wits or even lead to disaster. Remember the couple who were stranded in an Oregon national park last year after following their GPS straight into a pile of snow?

Recently, British researchers monitored the hippocampus and prefrontal cortex activity of volunteers while they drove through London. Apparently, navigating and driving through the streets put a very high demand on your hippocampus and prefrontal cortex – the parts of your brain that use and strengthen working and reference memory.

Unfortunately, the opposite is true when you navigate using GPS. You pretty much disengage your hippocampus and prefrontal cortex and don’t really get to know your surroundings – and you’re doing one more digital activity that distances you from engagement in real life. So expand your neural network by opening an atlas, get an online map and study the roadways and routes available. Then head out for an adventure. If you make a wrong turn, don’t fret. Heck, if you Google “GPS wrong directions” you get millions of online complaints. We bet you can do better than that relying on your brain and eyes.

This story was originally published April 16, 2017 at 6:32 PM with the headline "Home is where the healing happens."