There are more than 100 million Americans affected by chronic pain according to a study conducted by the Institute of Medicine. Chronic pain affects more Americans than Heart Disease, Diabetes, and Cancer combined. Most common is lower back pain in 27%, neck pain 15%, severe headache 15% and facial pain is 4%. Chronic pain affects more women than men leading to problems sleeping which makes pain worse. No wonder, 77% of people report feeling depressed due to chronic pain. The traditional way of pain management can be very risky with side effects, does not last (using steroids), and potential of hypertension and kidney disease with non-steroidal and even worse with opioid use which has caused many serious problems including death due to respiratory arrest, addiction, neuromuscular impairment which leads to falls. which could significantly interfere with travel plans and tourism activities. Thus, it is very important to revisit natural effective alternative for chronic pain management as this will make travel more pleasurable and safer for older travelers.
Pain costs our society at least between $560-$635 billion annually and thus is considered a major health problem. With the economic cost of chronic pain being universal for all age groups no matter if you are young or old! Lost productivity in the US ranges between $299-325 billion because of days and hours of work missed due to this chronic pain.
If we simply apply the following supply/demand principles of Health Economics to the issue that is chronic pain, we may see effective results.
1. First Term (Health Economics)
The process helps explain how people make decisions relating to their health and knowing the consequences of these choices.
2. Second Term (Positive Economics)
The process of how to identify, predict and evaluate beneficiaries and payers of public policy choice for healthcare (for example, there were 42 Million Americans in 2013 without any health insurance.
3. Third Term (Demand)
A consumer in need for a service or good which he or she is able to purchase over a specific time. Demand has many influencing factors such as customer income, quality, price of substitute products as well as consumer physical profile.
4. Fourth term (Demand Elasticity)
Percentage change in demand activity which will result in 1% change in price or income. For example, consumers with low income will prefer to buy cheaper over the counter inferior medications, but when their income increases, they will be able to switch to prescription drugs.
5. Fifth Term (Supply)
Amount of goods or services produced to sell at a specific price during specific time. Supply is influenced by several factors including number of sellers which if increased will make good more available and profitable up to disequilibrium point excess of goods/services in market. Other factors will include marketing and change of Technology.
We will realize that there is so much demand for safe solutions for chronic pain as the current choices for chronic pain management are limited and have a high risk for adverse health events whether being (NSAIDs) non-steroid anti-inflammatory Drugs which can lead to kidney failure, heart failure, and peptic ulcer. The second choice is Steroids which would lead to diabetes and a weakened immune system. The third choice is Opioids which have claimed more than 70000 lives in 2017 alone.
We propose a new fresh innovative and strategic model of Health and Wellness developed by Florida Medical Tourism recently presented (see video below)
This new approach will take advantage of centuries-old natural therapies using Climatherapy, natural springs, black sand, cupping, therapeutic ultraviolet rays, gold slat, and natural minerals to have an effective safe treatment of pain. This is used in conjunction with dietary intervention to achieve weight loss and in some cases bariatric surgery to break the vicious cycle of pain-inactivity-weight gain leading to more pain and depression. Factors related to proper nutrition in promoting wellness and limiting disease by controlling body weight and avoiding obesity which will lead to premature degenerative joint disease, especially other obesity epidemics in young and adolescent Americans. Patients should gradually increase physical activity and exercise to decrease pain, stiffness, and weight gain.
This is good news for consumers as this innovative approach will help patients physically, mentally, and financially to decrease stress on patients who are burdened by medical bills which keeps going up devastating the same millions affected by chronic pain and other co-morbid diseases that commonly coexist.
Visit www.floridamedicaltourism.com to learn more and take advantage of this new innovative approach to get rid of pain or limit pain so, people can enjoy life to the fullest. This would help individuals, employers especially small and medium sized to save big on their healthcare spending.
References
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9785912/
https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/324572
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1524904205001487
https://bmcmedicine.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12916-023-03076-2
https://noracarewellness.com/traveling-with-chronic-pain-tips
