HEALTH CARE
What does helplessness feel like ?
Dr . Reetu Sharma says it feels like numbness — the pins-and-needles kind you get in your hands while you hold a vibrating massager to your husband ’ s aching back in the dead of the night .
“ I must have been holding it for more than an hour ,” recalls Sharma , a Roseville cardiologist . “ My hands were going numb . I was hoping he would say , ‘ I ’ m feeling better , you can stop ,’ but he wasn ’ t saying it . … I felt lost in that moment . He was in a dark place and I didn ’ t know what was going on . I couldn ’ t figure it out .”
This happened two years ago , but the agony of watching her husband suffer became a pivotal point . She describes the man she married in 2004 as the type who takes care of everybody else , slow to ask for help . But a car accident changed that . Excruciating lower back pain made it hard for him to sit and sleep . At that time , Sharma , who says she usually has a strategy for everything , had no ideas . All she knew was it hurt too much to watch her husband ’ s quality of life deteriorate by the day . He was only in his mid-40s at the time and still had decades of life ahead of him .
“ I couldn ’ t help him because we didn ’ t know what was causing the pain ,” Sharma says . “ Not being able to diagnose or treat something as a physician , it goes to who you are . As a spouse , seeing somebody wither away in front of you and not be able to make things better , that ’ s what drove me to ask , ‘ What can I do ?’”
Two years into a global pandemic , this is a question heard ‘ round the world . But for many , the feeling of helplessness existed long before COVID-19 . The aging process in general can produce such a feeling , stemming from back pain , knee pain , memory loss , diabetes , balance issues , depression and countless other ailments that impact quality of life . Of course , aging is biologically inevitable , the result of cellular damage over time . The World Health Organization states that by 2030 , 1 in 6 people worldwide will be 60 years or older . Between 2020 and 2050 , WHO expects the number of people 80 or older to triple and reach 426 million .
“ For me , this is a mission of spreading wellness . Yes , in my 20-plus years in medicine , I have realized that it ’ s not just important to save people ’ s lives . Improving their quality of life is probably even more important . Wellness supersedes everything else .”
DR . REETU SHARMA Cardiologist , Sutter Roseville Medical Center
To keep bodies healthy , simple and free physical activities are classics for a reason . For example , Dr . Thomas Frieden , former director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention , called walking the closest thing to a “ wonder drug ,” and studies have touted its ability to strengthen muscles , lubricate joints and boost immune function , among other things .
But there are also new tools and technologies being developed every day to address both physical and mental health as we get older . Sharma is one of many innovators in the Capital Region determined to help the population feel stronger while living longer .
“ Everybody has a different definition of what being well means ,” Sharma says . “ For me , it ’ s a path to longevity but also feeling like your very best on that path .”
Managing pain
“ Can you sit through your daughter ’ s recital ? Or play softball in the backyard ?” These are a couple of the questions Sharma asks the 20 to 30 patients she sees every day , who average 75 years old . For them , she says , wellness means being able to do the things they could do 10 , 20 years ago .
After researching pain management devices for her husband , she says she found nothing that was user-friendly . So Sharma decided to create something herself : a hands-free wellness device called Pain Be Gone that delivers heat , vibration , massage and compression to a tense area to help users experience less pain . The wearable device is programmable through an app that can be customized and advises based on a user ’ s experience .
Before she could build a prototype , she needed a minimum viable product . A Bay Area firm gave a quote of $ 1.7 million , which she didn ’ t have . Sharma decided to pitch the idea to four senior mechanical engineering students at Chico State . They built a basic iteration prototype , which she tested over four weeks , getting feedback from clients at chiropractors ’ offices , physical therapy offices , sports medicine offices and at CrossFit . The response , she says , was overwhelmingly positive with 89 percent finding relief after two to three minutes of using the prototype .
Her company , JNH Dream Innovations , launched in 2021 and began fundraising in December with a goal of raising about $ 850,000 to improve the device ’ s design and functionality . Her
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