Bed
Rest May Not be Helpful
In
an Associated Press story of October 8, 1999, comes a report of research
conducted at the University of Queensland Medical School in Australia,
that shows that the time honored practice of bed rest for illness may not
be helpful.
The
researchers examined all previous studies on the effectiveness of bed rest
compared to patients who were up and moving around more quickly.
The studies involved a total of 5,777 patients with a variety of 15
different health problems. The
results showed that with many health conditions, as well as after several
medical procedures such as heart catheterization, getting up quicker was
more beneficial than bed rest.
Some
of the health problems that benefited from moving around over bed rest
included acute lower back pain, and increased blood pressure in pregnant
women.
Bed Rest May Not Be Answer to
Many Ailments
In the first week of October 1999 issue of the Lancet
a British medical journal comes a story that may change what most people
have believed is good home care for many ailments. The article suggests that prolonged bed rest may not help and
may even be harmful for may ailments.
The article was based on researched done in the University of
Queensland Medical School, Australia.
In this research 5,777 patients with 15 different ailments were
studied. Their comments were,
“Overall, there was no evidence that bed rest has any significant
effect beneficial effect when used as a treatment or when used after
surgery. It may actually delay recovery and even harm the patient.”
The study concluded that bed rest should no longer be used for
ailments such as acute low back pain, hepatitis, or for recovery after a
heart attack. The study also
suggested that women are better off walking around during the early stages
of labor as compared to hours of lying on their back.
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