In 1984, although it was not the first personal computer introduced, Apple launched a revolutionary product: the first Mac. Today, 30 years later, they released the iPhone 6 with a QuadCore 64-bit processor, a smooth 3+ million times the processing speed of the ’84 Mac.
In 1878 Edison produced the first commercially available light bulb. Today, we use an LED light, which lasts on average 41 times longer, and costs 6 times less per .1 KWh.
In 1909 Henry Ford delivered the first Model T Ford. Today, Google has over 300,000 safe miles testing an autonomous (electric) car.
In 1903 The Wright Brothers successfully achieved human flight. Now we complain that the Direct TV signal isn’t working on our commuter flight, which was just delayed 15 minutes.
During a period from 1816-1896 a series of inventions changed the way our medical system functions and defined health as we have known it for over a hundred years. The stethoscope, Snellen chart, otoscope, medical thermometer, reflex hammer and sphygmomanometer, were all created to evaluate a person’s lungs, eyes, ears, body temperature, reflexes and blood pressure, respectively. Add your height & weight and throw in a CBC or Urinalysis if you want to get fancy and you have our current day medical physical exam included annually in everyone’s health insurance plan.
Sure there’s now an automatic sphygmomanometer which allows hand’s-free cuff tightening, and the medical thermometer is now digital, but for all intents and purposes, our annual “preventative” physical exam has not evolved in over 100 years.
There have been thousands of medical advances over the past 100 years: Mind-blowing research, which has developed technology beyond the scope of most of our understanding; Cures for viruses, which could have very well put an end to human beings as a species if we encountered them 300 years ago; Routine medical procedures to treat thousands of diseases easily and efficiently. But the focus in the last 100 years in Western medicine has been on disease control and treatment. Common health prevention still lies in the late 1800’s.
Would you feel safe riding around on our streets in a Model T? Or how about taking your next family vacation on a plane built in 1910? Taking control of your health starts with education about prevention. Education of various preventive techniques and healthy habits can be easily found in the pages of our website. Spend some time reading through our articles, pages and general health information. Or ask your physician during your next visit what you can do to be proactive about your health.