By Ana B. Ibarra
News | KHN

After they amputated the second toe on John Trumbla’s right foot last summer, doctors sent him to a nursing home because he still needed medical care — but not necessarily a hospital bed. The proud, burly Army veteran resisted at first, but he didn’t have a choice. Before his hospitalization at Santa Clara Valley Medical Center, Trumbla, 56, and his wife had been homeless, crashing…
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By Terry Gross
Fresh Air | NPR

From sports drinks to protein powders, from compression therapy to cupping — there’s a whole industry of products and services designed to help us adapt to and recover from exercise. But does any of it work? That’s the question… Listen at NPR

By Alice Park

When Tom Shicowich’s toe started feeling numb in 2010, he brushed it off as a temporary ache. At the time, he didn’t have health insurance, so he put off going to the doctor. The toe became infected, and he got so sick that he stayed in bed for two days with what he assumed was the flu. When he finally saw a doctor, the physician immediately sent Shicowich to the emergency room. Several days later, surgeons amputated his toe… Read at Time

By Chris Heath
Story | GQ

This is a story about sober musicians—about the life that has led them here, and about the life that they live now—but there is no single story here. Some drank, some used drugs, some did more or less everything, and they did so to very different degrees. Some found themselves at the edge of the precipice, or worse; others simply re-routed from a path or trajectory that…
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By Oliver Sacks Opinion, New York Times

This is an excerpt from “Everything in Its Place,” a posthumous collection of writings by Dr. Sacks.

As a writer, I find gardens essential to the creative process; as a physician, I take my patients to gardens whenever possible. All of us have had the experience of wandering through a lush garden or a timeless desert, walking by a river or an ocean, or climbing a mountain and finding ourselves simultaneously calmed and reinvigorated, engaged in mind, refreshed in body and spirit. The importance of these physiological states… Read at NYTimes

By Lisa Woods, Jonathan R. Slotkin, MD, and M. Ruth Coleman Cover Story, Harvard Business Review

Walmart has embraced a new approach to improve the quality of care and lower costs. The results have been dramatic. A 56-year-old man who works at Walmart — we’ll call him Bill — had been suffering from mild neck pain for years. Recently the pain had worsened, and his wife noticed a subtle tremor… Read at HBR