Mobility Matters

This month, we’re thinking about mobility, especially among older populations, and the potential ties to chronic disease risk. We’re using our platform to educate the public about bone and joint health as well as the impact of a fall on overall health and mobility.

In our senior health program, Your Super Years, we gain a better understanding of the health conditions and lifestyle concerns of Higi users over the age of 65 and provide tools and information to help those seniors live life to its fullest. Of program participants, nearly 70% are living with some type of chronic pain, defined as pain that lasts from weeks to years, with 30% of sufferers reporting experiencing chronic joint pain. While joint pain does not necessarily equate to arthritis, we know from the CDC that severe joint pain is more common among adults with arthritis who also have other chronic conditions including diabetes (40.9%), heart disease (34.1%), and obesity (31.7%), and among adults with a disability (45.6%).[1] While only 13% reported a high blood pressure or heart disease diagnosis, over half of sessions included blood pressure screening results in the hypertensive range.

[1] https://www.cdc.gov/arthritis/index.htm

Despite the real risks to older populations, our survey responses reveal a resistance toward reducing fall risks. Only 17% of our respondents admit to using equipment to help them move around, with a cane being the most commonly used type of DME, although 28% admit to having fallen in the past 12 months.

This population of seniors, who are curious enough and engaged enough in their health to participate in our programming, show additional risk factors that should be of concern to those responsible for their wellbeing, especially healthcare organizations taking on financial risk to manage this cohort. 62% of participants haven’t completed or aren’t sure what an Annual Wellness Visit is, representing an opportunity to engage those at risk for a fall with personalized support or to discuss 1:1 the benefits of using appropriate DME. In addition, 83% have not completed a memory screening and only 14% have completed a telehealth visit. Both opportunities to expose risks and intercept with easy to use technology.