The title of this issue of Topics in Geriatric Rehabilitation is "Bone Health." What a great title, and it portends a great issue. Bone health leaves the one-dimensional discussion of the skeletal system and explores evidence of contributors to bone health on many levels. Please let me digress first before extolling the virtues of examining a body system in this way.
When one considers the current healthcare system, many problems become apparent. We all agree that what is most important is to ameliorate disease and improve quality of life. It sounds so easy. It is not.
Our profession has come very far in the study and understanding of health; however many pieces are missing. One of the most critical is individual response to treatment and individual manifestation of disease. For the sake of simplicity, most fields of medicine work with an average or a norm, but it must be recognized that certain individuals are outside these norms. Researchers and clinicians that are complacent with evaluative and treatment philosophies centered on the norms may too often miss the best approach and innovations for the outliers. I believe that many chronic conditions of aging that crop up in our growing older population don't fit the norms (or possibly that new norms must be defined).
Chronic problems such as fibromyalgia, irritable bowel syndrome, and many more leave those smitten screaming for answers. Yet no great answers are forthcoming. I believe that if our profession is to grow, we must abandon the one-dimensional approach to these problems. If a
multilevel, systematic approach were taken to these conditions, new information would be uncovered that could help the many patients who currently see little hope and few options for improving their quality of life.
Dr Everett Smith being a true visionary has once again provided the readership with new insights on a myriad of levels that begin to unlock the doors to the multifaceted approach. As a reminder, Dr Smith submitted the premier issue of Topics in Geriatric Rehabilitation more than 20 years ago. That issue won the Association of American Publisher's Award for the "Most Outstanding Issue of a Scientific Journal" for that year. Dr Smith has done it again. This issue explores the economics of and future trends in bone health, as well as cutting-edge information on bone morphology and strength. The evaluation and treatment articles explore interventions aimed at the entire patient population from a varied perspective.
This issue is so exciting for today's health professional because it is aimed at the future. I want to encourage all of my colleagues in the medical and rehabilitation fields to read and assimilate this cutting-edge information into their daily practice and to begin thinking of ways to utilize the information base to improve the future of bone health and treatment. Dr Smith and his team of authors have done it again.