Elderly health equipment

Elderly health equipment is by no means an "IQ tax" in the general sense. Under the premise of compliant product selection, matching needs, and scientific use, it can effectively reduce the risk of accidents for the elderly, alleviate the discomfort of chronic diseases, and improve self-care ability. The vast majority of negative reviews come from false propaganda, mismatched needs, and improper use.

Last week, together with community workers, we helped 72-year-old Aunt Zhang Guilan return the "multifunctional physiotherapy bed" she bought for 12,800 yuan. The aunt said that when she bought it, the salesperson promised that it could cure high blood pressure and diabetes. She secretly stopped the antihypertensive medicine for half a month. She was so dizzy that she almost fell to the hospital. She was scolded by the doctor before she regained consciousness. Do you want to say that this physiotherapy bed is completely useless? No, I took a picture of the model and asked an acquaintance in the rehabilitation department. They said that this product is qualified as a second-class medical device and can indeed relieve inflammatory pain caused by lumbar muscle strain and lumbar disc herniation. The fault lies in the fact that the salesperson falsely boasted that it can cure chronic diseases. My aunt believed it and dared to stop taking the medicine. It was a completely unfounded disaster.

The controversy about elderly health equipment has actually never stopped, and the opinions of different groups are not even the slightest bit different. The view on the medical side has always been stable: equipment with formal medical equipment qualifications is an extended tool for clinical rehabilitation and chronic disease management. For example, electric standing frames for post-stroke rehabilitation and continuous passive motion devices for joint replacement. They are all necessary for the hospital to prescribe and continue to use them at home. There is no such thing as "useless". And the attitude of many young people is very absolute: "They are all scamming old people out of their money." After all, nine out of ten news reports show old people spending tens of thousands on useless things and quarreling with their children when they return home. As for the old man's own feelings, they are like Schrödinger: some said that the shoulder pain really disappeared after half a month of use, and some said that after buying it home, it was piled on the balcony to collect dust. No one can convince anyone.

In the three years I have been working in community aging services, the most interesting comparison I have encountered is between two elderly people in the same unit. Uncle Li on the third floor fell and had a hip replacement surgery last year. At first he refused to use a walker, saying, "It looks like a useless person with that thing." Later, his girl secretly bought him a model with a small folding seat, so he could sit down and take a rest when he was tired from walking. Now, Uncle Li carries a cloth bag and uses a walker to go downstairs every day to buy cigarettes and play chess with his old friend. The last time I saw him, he said, "This thing has really saved my life. I didn't dare to go downstairs before for fear of falling. Now I want to go wherever I want." As for Mr. Wang on the fifth floor, his son spent more than 8,000 to buy him an imported electric wheelchair, saying "it will be convenient for my dad to go out for a walk." However, there is no barrier-free ramp at the door of their unit, and the fifteen-centimeter steps are so stuck that the wheelchair cannot be pushed down at all. Now the brand-new electric wheelchair is still on the balcony, with old newspapers piled half a meter high on it.

To be honest, many people make mistakes when buying health equipment for the elderly. They either only look at the promotion but not the qualifications, or they only buy the expensive ones and not the right ones. Take the most common shoulder and neck massagers, for example. They range from tens of yuan to several thousand yuan. You have to first check whether there is a "Mechanical Standard" mark on the package. The ones that only have "xiao" and "jian" are simply ordinary household appliances. They are not even qualified to claim medical effects. If you just want to rub your shoulders and relax, that's fine. If you really want to relieve the adhesion pain of frozen shoulder, you must choose one with formal qualifications. There are also hearing aids. Many women want to buy a few hundred yuan for the elderly to wear on the Internet. However, the elderly people say that the noise gives them a headache. That is because they have not done professional hearing tests. The hearing aids they buy casually have wrong gain and will damage the residual hearing. It is the same as buying reading glasses from a street stall for myopia.

There is another situation that everyone easily overlooks: some elderly people buy expensive health equipment not for their functions at all. Last month, I met an aunt who knew that the spectrum analyzer recommended to her was twice as expensive as online, but she still paid for it happily. She said, "My girl works out of town and can't come back twice a year. That little girl comes to chat with me every day, and gives me eggs and noodles. What's wrong with me spending some money?" In this case, do you think the equipment is an IQ tax? What people buy is emotional value, which is the same as young people spending thousands of dollars to grab concert tickets and buy a bunch of blind boxes that are not open, but the carrier happens to be health equipment.

A few days ago, I had dinner with Director Chen from the Rehabilitation Department of the First City Hospital. He said that people now have too deep misunderstandings about health equipment for the elderly. This thing is essentially no different from the fascia guns, eye protection devices, and exercise bracelets used by young people. It is just an auxiliary tool. You cannot expect it to cure all diseases, nor can you say it is all a lie. Be more careful when choosing a product for the elderly. First ask the doctor for advice, see the actual use scenarios of the elderly, and then check the product qualifications. There is a high probability that you will not fall into the trap. After all, the reason why we buy these things is to make the elderly live more comfortably and suffer less, right?