In the face of increasing complexity in medicine, with a boom in technologies allowing more and more detailed investigations of patients, there has also been a commonsense swing in the direction of a more holistic approach to patient assessment.
An example would be how much information you can get about a patient’s wellbeing just from how fast or slow they walk. This led to an article in the famous Christmas edition of the British Medical Journal a few years ago asking “How fast does the grim reaper walk?” (15 Dec 2011, conclusion = 3 km/hr)
A similar assessment that has become popular recently is frailty. The clinical frailty scale, a number from 1 – 9, is based on activity and functional status. It can help guide appropriate treatment and disposition of (typically elderly) patients, and give an idea of peri operative risk if surgery is contemplated, although on a more sinister note, it was also mooted to help guide the rationing of care when resources are scarce, for example during the COVID pandemic.
A subsection of frailty that’s has had some particular attention this year is balance. There was an article in the Guardian on it last month.
Of course, right after reading the article. I was standing on one leg as described, and terrifying myself by wobbling around and doing a terrible job of it. Was it just me or is it really hard?
Anyway, it’s put the wind up me and I’ve been trying to work on it ever since. I can tell you it’s given a nervous edge to a number of yoga poses that I’ve found challenging from a balance point of view in the past. So, it’s not just “move it or lose it!” now, you need some level of poise and elegance to live a long life as well.